Power Rangers Ages
by Andros Dorian
Summary: Rangers from former teams come together with new powers, Andros, Tommy, Karone, Ashley, and Kat. Also, if I have any errors coinciding with Mystic Force, Operation Overdrive, Jungle Fury, and R.P.M it is because I haven't seen those seasons. Except O.A.R
1. Chapter 1

**1**

The day started out like any other for Dr. O, he'd wake up, go to school, teach his classes, converse with his four former Ranger teammates, and go home. But today felt different to him for some reason, it felt like something bad was going to happen. When he got to Reefside High School he quickly found Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent and asked them if any of them had the same feeling, to which they responded no. "Aw man," he said "maybe it's just my nerves getting the best of me…" The day went on and still nothing had happened. "Yeah, it's gotta be the nerves," he said as he walked into his house. When he flipped the light switch on though he was immediately attacked by a man in a red-black cloak, Tommy ducked the man's punch and followed up with a kick to his gut. "Still got it I see," the man said. "Who are you?!" he demanded, ripping the man's hood back. Before him stood Andros, the Red Space Ranger, and leader of the Rangers who protected Tommy's old city of Angel Grove.

Andros proceeded to remove his cloak and throw it over the back of Tommy's couch.

"Andros, what're you doing here?" a still shocked Tommy asked.

"We, the other Space Rangers and myself, found this."

Andros held his hand out and inside it was a gold coin. "I thought you might like to have it, seeing as how it was once yours."

Tommy looked down in amazement at the coin: it was his very first power coin, the powers that the evil witch Rita Repulsa had given him, the powers of the Green Ranger.

"Where did you get this?" he asked as he took it.

"An old teammate of yours, Adam I think was his name, found it while going through the wreckage of the Power Chamber."

Tommy just stared as he felt the recharged coins power flow through him. "What was Adam doing there? And how did the Dragon Coin end up there? The last time I saw it was when my clone, Tom, took it to Colonial Angel Grove."

Andros took the cup of coffee offered to him and blew on it before saying, "Well, Adam went there to pay his respects to Zordon and Alpha 5, and he saw something shining a few yards away from the Chambers base. It was your Dragon Coin." Andros paused to sip his coffee, "As to how it got there, my guess is that Tom found the Command Center and buried it just outside it, or something."

Tommy then asked "Is there any way to repair my damaged morpher?" Andros thought for a moment then said "Maybe, but I'm not sure. You're welcome to bring it and try. But I thought you still had your Zeo powers?"

"No," Tommy replied "that morpher was destroyed a long time ago, when my lab blew up and Mesagog was created." Andros mused at that and said "Alright, well, just bring your morpher to the Astro Megaship Mk II tomorrow, or now if you want, and we'll see about repairing it." With that said Andros took his leave and headed back to Angel Grove. 'It'll be great to see the Dragon Zord again after all these years…' he thought.

The next day he took a leave of absence from work and headed to Angel Grove. Andros was waiting for him at the old Juice Bar, now owned by Bulk and Skull. Together they went to the NASADA Space Port where the Astro Megaship Mk II was stationed and had Alpha 7 work on it. "Do you think you can fix it Alpha?" Andros asked; "Ay yi yi yi yi, I'm not sure Andros. I don't think I have the tools here." Tommy looked at Andros, who shrugged his shoulders, then at Alpha and asked "Well where would you get the proper tools?" Alpha raised his hands up and said "Eltar, I know for a fact I'd have the tools there!" Tommy and Andros both looked at each other, neither of them had ever been to Eltar, home of Zordon, their former mentor. Tommy nodded, and Andros gave the command "D.E.C.A , set a course for…Eltar." A few minutes later the engines roared to life, and the trio was flying through space towards Eltar.

Meanwhile back on Earth…

Kat had just finished teaching her kindergarten class when suddenly her old communicator went off. She kept it with her at all time just in case, and finally after thirteen years it sounded once more. She immediately answered it "Go ahead…whoever you are…" the voice that replied was that of another female. "Kat? My name is Karone, I need your help! Please!" Kat's brow furrowed and she wondered just how Karone had been able to contact her. Kat had been in the crowd during Astronema's attempted takeover of Earth and therefore witnessed her being purified by Zordon's energy wave. "Karone, Karone, where are you?" she asked, "I'm inside the ruins of the palace on the Earth's moon, and I need help!"

'What is she doing there?' Kat wondered, then asked "Karone, what're you doing in Zedd and Rita's old palace?"

"I'll tell you later, just please come help me!"

Back on the Astro Megaship Mk II…

"Andros, we're coming up on Eltar, preparing for docking sequence now" D.E.C.A said, "That's great D.E.C.A," he replied "Won't be long now Tommy. Soon you'll be empowered again." After the ship landed, Alpha, Andros and Tommy left the ship in D.E.C.A's care while they searched for a place to repair Tommy's morpher. Eltar was a lush, green planet, similar to the Lost Temple where the Rangers received their Ninja Powers from Ninjor, but with advanced technology within the cities. "We are approaching Zordon's old house," Alpha chirped cheerfully "inside we will find the means to repair your morpher." Tommy stared in amazement at the planet "Man, it reminds me so much of Earth…" he spotted a building off in the distance, it looked like the Command Center he visited in his early days as a Ranger. "Is that," he pointed to the building "Zordon's old home?" Alpha jumped up and down "Yes, yes that's it precisely Tommy!"

"I'm amazed it's still standing…"Andros mused "I figured Dark Specter would've destroyed it when he captured Zordon…" the three entered the double sliding doors to Zordon's old home, where they saw a couch, a chair, and pretty much everything a normal house would have, except the room looked like the Command Center, only bigger. Tommy looked around in amazement and tripped over something lying on the floor. "Ow!" he said when landed, he looked to see what he tripped over, it was Alpha 5. "Alpha!" Tommy cried, "aw man how'd this happen?"

Alpha 7 took Alpha 5's head and wired to the viewing globe, where they saw a recording of Dark Specter's assault on Eltar, and Alpha running in fear. Many of Zordon's people fell to Ecliptor, Darkonda, Quantrons, and Astronema. Alpha made it to Zordon's home to warn the great wizard, only to be blasted by Astronema as he was sending Zordon's message to Dimitria and the Turbo Rangers. The final recording was of Astronema ordering the Quantrons to take Zordon to the ship.

After giving Alpha 5 a proper burial Alpha 7 began reconstruction on Tommy's morpher. "Just a few more seconds and….There!" he said "Finished!" Tommy took the newly repaired morpher, placed his coin within it, held it in front of him and shouted "Dragonzord!" In a flash of green he went from being Tommy Oliver to the green Ranger of days long ago, he looked around at the outfit in amazement, felt the Dragon Shield across his chest and back, felt the Dragon the Dagger at his side, and something just felt right to him, being back in green.

On Earth's Moon…

Kat had borrowed the Pink Galaxy Glider from Cassie Chan, the Ranger who replaced her, to make it to the moon to help Karone, and Ashley Hammond, Andros' girlfriend accompanied her. "Wow, so this is where Zedd and Rita lived?" Ashley asked as they made their way through the ruins, "Yeah, it used to be a place of good, or so Zordon said, but Rita, and then Zedd corrupted it with their evil magic," They walked through the throne room, and the bedroom of Rita and Zedd with no sign of Karone anywhere. "Karone," Kat called, her communicator was useless on the Moon, "Karone!" Ashley called, nothing. They then stumbled upon what remained on Finster's clay monsters and putties. Ashley accidentally stepped on one and slipped to the floor, finding a hole in the wall just big enough for a person to crawl through. "Hey, Kat!" she called "I think I found something." Kat ran over to where Ashley was laying and asked "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but look at this," she pointed to hole she had discovered. "Good work Ashley, c'mon." Kat began crawling through the tunnel, followed by Ashley, after a few minutes they came upon a hidden room in the palace, one that remained untouched by evil. Standing in the center of the room was Karone. "Karone, finally, what do you need help with?" Karone turned to face the others who had joined her "It's in there" she said as she pointed to a door. "What is?" they asked, "The Sword of Kron, I always heard rumors of its existence as Astronema, but I never found any proof until a few days ago when I was visiting Mirinoi, Leo gave me a map saying that Maya's grandfather had hidden the sword here on the Moon Palace. I figured it was worth checking out." Ashley then asked "What _is_ the Sword of Kron anyway? And why do you need Kat's help?"

Karone then began to explain "The Sword of Kron is a sword that was used to banish evil many years ago. It was used by the great warrior Kron, the evil that he sealed away was that of Lord Trixabus and his minions. But Trixabus and his men have escaped, they attacked Mirinoi and are now headed towards Earth!" Kat and Ashley both knew that they needed to help Karone in any way they could. "What do you need us to do?" Kat asked, "Well, the people of Vexus, the ones who placed Kron's swords here along with the power it supposedly holds, sent an alien from the planet Vexus to guard it, and I'm afraid I can't defeat it by myself. Please, I need your help to free Leo and the people of Mirinoi from Trixabus!"

Kat and Ashley quickly agreed and then each called out their specific morphing code "Zeo Ranger I: Pink!" Kat shouted and in a flash of Pink she was once again the Pink Zeo Ranger, "Let's Rocket!" Ashley called as she punched the numbers "3-3-5 Enter" and in a flash of yellow was the Yellow Space Ranger. Together the three of them went to retrieve the sword and battle the alien known as Quickdar.

Karone swiftly attacked with a flurry of kicks, catching Quickdar by surprise, which allowed Ashley and Kat to quickly come and hit him with their blasters, their quick tactics and teamwork showed him that they were worthy to possess the sword, so he stepped aside. "Thank you," Karone said "I couldn't have retrieved this power if you hadn't helped me." Together the three lifted the sword from its resting place, when it was released it transformed into five different colored gems, red, light blue, green, purple, and black. Two of the gems flew off into space, while the other three went and covered the three girls in a three separate beams of light. The black gem hovered over Ashley, the purple over Karone, and the light blue over Kat. "Reach up, and take your new Power Gems," said a deep voice, "Who said that?" Ashley asked. "It is I, Kron, since you three have freed my sword, new powers will be granted to each of you, Ashley, you will be in command of the Pteranodon Zord, Kat, you will command the Prehistoric Shark Zord, Karone, you will pilot the quick and agile Raptor Zord, and the other two will be in command of the Red Spinosaurus Zord and the Green Dragonzord," Kat, Ashley, and Karone each reached up and grabbed their respective gem, then the spirit of Kron appeared before them. "But what will happen to the other two gems?" Kat asked, "They have gone to find their respective owners. Each of these gems were sealed here, each one destined for one of you. You must find the other owners of the gems."

"But how will we know where to find them?" Kat asked, glimpsing at her stone, "The Gems will show you the way. Together the six of you must destroy Trixabus. He can no longer be sealed away." Ashley's brow furrowed "Six?" she asked "Only five gems appeared out of the sword." Kron nodded "Yes I know, I hid the sixth somewhere in the vastness of space. It is up to the five of you to find it, and free it from its resting place. Now, I am afraid I must go."

"Will we see you again?" Karone quickly asked, "I am afraid not. My spirit must now crossover to the other side, farewell Rangers." After Kron's spirit vanished, Ashley and Kat demorphed, only to find that their old morphers had been replaced with new one, with their gems in the center. "How do we activate them?" Kat asked, "Like this," Karone said. She placed her fingers over the gem, pushing it in and shouting "Raptorzord Power UP!" in a flash of purple Karone was the Purple Prehistoric Ranger, with her helmet designed to look like a Raptors face, her chest bore a light blue diamond, and she gained two curved blades for weapons. Kat and Ashley followed and Kat shouted "Prehistoric Shark Power UP!" in a flash of blue she became the Blue Prehistoric Ranger, her helmet was similarly designed with that of a sharks face, complete with the dorsal fin on top, and her chest bore a black diamond, and she gained a blaster with a sharks mouth on the end. Ashley then shouted "Pterodon Power UP!"and in a black flash she became the Black Prehistoric Ranger. Her helmet was based on that of a pterodon, she bore a purple diamond on her chest, and gained a sword with a pteradon's head on the end. "Way cool," Ashley said looking over their new outfits "even though I'm not a big fan of black…" Kat and Karone also marveled at their new suits. "Come one guys," Karone said, taking charge, "We need to find the other two rangers and then find that last gem!"


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Tommy and Andros had just finished repairing Tommy's morpher when they spotted two beams of light headed for them, the gems stopped before the two, red in front of Andros, and green before Tommy. They picked the gems up, and they fused with their morphers giving them new morphers with the gems located at the center. Kron's spirit then appeared before them and explained the situation to them as he did the others. He explained about Trixabus, the new Prehistoric Powers they possessed, and the sixth gem that was hidden somewhere in space. Before Kron's spirit departed for good, Andros and Tommy checked out their new powers.

"Spinosaurus Power UP!" Andros shouted, in a flash of red Andros became the Red Prehistoric Ranger, his helmet resembled the Red Dino Rangers, but a little narrower on top and a fin on the top. He had a green diamond located on his chest, and an axe for a weapon, based on the Spinosaurus dorsal fin.

"Dragonzord Power UP!" Tommy shouted, in a flash of green he became the Green Prehistoric Ranger, though he noticed no change in his outfit. "Why didn't it change?" Tommy asked.

"Your Green Ranger Dragon Coin contained a fragment of the Green Prehistoric Gem within it, giving you a limited amount of the true power you could have had." Kron explained "I gave the fragment to Ninjor who used it to create the Dragon Coin, and from his experience there, he was able to create the others." With that being said Kron bid farewell to the rangers.

"You think he was telling us the truth?" Andros asked, examining his new morpher and the gem it held.

"I'm not sure, but if he was then we need to find the other three rangers and that sixth gem, fast!" The two rangers and Alpha then boarded the Astro Megaship Mk II and headed back to Earth.

Somewhere out in space…

A ship was passing by Mars and headed towards Earth, within it was a purple humanoid figure with a gold skeletal style armor outside and blue visor, a half white, half camouflage skeleton, a silver armored baboon that resembled Goldar, and an army of foot soldiers called fantomites. The purple humanoid rose from his throne and said "Rito, you're sure that the rangers who are responsible for turning my brother…" he shuddered at the thought "…good are down on Earth now?"

"Huh, uh….yup yup they're down there alright. Sorry it took so long to free you Trixy, but I was a little busy trying to find a way to free you." Rito said, scratching his head.

"It's Trixabus! Lord Trixabus! Those rangers will pay for what they did to Zedd. Golver, I want you to lead a team of fantomites to attack Earth when we get there, understand?" Trixabus asked.

"Rrrr, yes my master. I will make those puny rangers pay for what they did to my brother, Goldar, and Lord Zedd." Golver growled.

"Excellent, excellent." Trixabus laughed maniacally "Now get out of my site!" Rito and Golver stumbled over one another trying to get out of the throne room.

Back on the Astro Megaship Mk II…

As they came closer to Earth's moon the gems within Andros and Tommy's morphers began to glow, the closer they got the brighter they glowed. "Andros, maybe we should stop on the moon? The gems seem to be pointing us that way," Tommy said looking out the window.

"I agree, but we better be careful, we're not sure if it's the other rangers, or the sixth gem. I'll set us down near the old palace," Andros replied. Gently he landed the ship on the surface of the moon. After they landed they morphed and headed into the palace, as the closer they got to it the brighter the gems glowed.

'Man this place brings back some old memories…' Tommy thought as they walked through the wreckage of Serpentera and into the palace.

"Is there anybody in here?" Andros called out as they entered Lord Zedd's old throne room. "Andros? Andros is that you?" a girl called in response "Andros, over here!" Karone waved as she entered the opposite end of the throne room. "Karone?" he shouted back.

Karone, Ashley, and Kat entered the throne room de-morphred and saw Andros and Tommy in their new suits. "Well," Karone sighed with relief "It seems like we found the other two rangers."

"You found us? We found you!" Andros retorted "Ashley! You're here too?"

Ashley smiled "Yeah, I'm here too. I'm the new Black Ranger, and I see you're still the Red Ranger. Who's your friend though?" Tommy and Andros then powered down and Tommy smiled at Kat, who smiled back. "Guess whose back…" Tommy smiled "again."

**3**

Kat just smiled and embraces Tommy in a hug "Tommy, it's so good to see you again," she said through tears. Ashley and Andros also embraced in a hug. Karone then proceeded to explain how they found the gems and freed Kron's spirit. "Yeah, he told us about this guy, Trixabus, being freed from imprisonment. Where is he from though?" Tommy asked.

"I don't know, I heard his name once or twice as Astronema, but I never saw him or heard anything other than his name and that he's ruthless, even worse than Dark Specter" Karone said. "I could always try checking the Astro Megaships records, it was built to contain records of every known villain in the universe, even those purified by Zordon like Rita, Zedd, and Divatox" Andros said.

"Well let's check it out!" Ashley said and together they all headed for the ship. After they entered the ship Andros reset the course for Earth and began checking the records. "Finally!" he exclaimed "'Found him; let's see…a click here, a click there, and there!"

"Is it me," Tommy said looking at Kat "or does that look like Lord Zedd?"

Kat swallowed and nodded "It looks like Zedd…" she confirmed.

"It says here that he is Zedd's brother," Andros read "'Together he and Zedd took over galaxy after galaxy, eventually ending up on Earth's moon in their quest to obtain the Zeo Crystal,'" he paused and looked at the expressions of the others, who were shocked. "'However,'" he continued "'trying to get the crystal left them both horribly deformed, to the extent that they had to get special masks and armor made just to keep them alive.'"

"Guess that explains why Zedd was so ugly" Tommy said, and Kat just nodded.

"Hold on, I'm not through," Andros said "'Eventually the warrior from Eltar, Kron, found the two and banished Trixabus to another dimension, and Zedd fled before he met a similar fate. To this day Trixabus remains trapped in that unknown dimension.' That's all it has on him" he said, closing the file. "If he's as bad as Karone says he is, then we need to find that last gem, and the ranger that goes with it" Ashley said.

"Maybe Aquitar has a record of it?" Kat suggested "Andros, can we contact Aquitar from here?"

"Yes, just tell me who to contact,"

"Try Delphine,"

"Alright, here goes" Andros connected them to Aquitar and to Tommy and Kats surprise it was Billy who answered their transmission!

"Billy! Hey man, how are you?" Tommy asked.

"Hey Tommy, Kat. I'm fine, if you were trying to contact Delphine she's away on a mission, but I'd be more than willing to help you out with anything you need" Billy said with a smile. "Aw man, that'd be great. Listen, we need to look through Aquitar's records for someone named Kron, and if you can, tell us where he hid the sixth gem, we know he hid five on the moon," Tommy said.

"No problem, I'll contact you when I have something," he responded.


	3. Chapter 3

** 4**

After they landed safely back on Earth Karone agreed to remain with the ship to receive Billy's transmission and alert the others when he had something. Andros and Ashley went to tell the other Space Rangers of the situation, that they would temporarily be leaving the team, and that T.J was in charge. Tommy went back to Reefside to tell the former Dino Rangers the same thing. Kat went back to her school in order to tell the principal, her boss, that she was taking a vacation.

Angel Grove…

"But Andros," Carlos said "Man, we want to help you!"

"I understand that," Andros replied "But you guys are needed here to protect Angel Grove."

Cassie then shot a pleading look to Ashley, who just shook her head in agreement with Andros. "Andros," T.J said "I promise I won't let you down. I'll lead the team even better than I did before."

Andros shook T.J's hand and said "I know you will." Andros and Ashley then headed back for the ship to wait with Karone.

Reefside High…

"But Dr. O!" Ethan shouted "How can you not want us to help you?"

"Look guys, I know you could help out a lot, but I don't want you fighting this guy without your powers. The Dino Gems burnt out, remember?" Tommy said, referencing their final fight with Mesagog. "But mine's not," Kira piped up "not anymore. The Sentinel Knight recharged it." Tommy sighed and shook his head 'No'. Conner ran up then, dressed in his soccer outfit. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, what's up Dr. O?" he asked.

"He's leaving to go fight in space and won't take us" Ethan pouted, Trent then said to Ethan "I can understand him wanting us to stay here, I mean if this guy, Trixabus? Makes it to Earth and attacks, we'll be needed here."

"No that's not what I-" Tommy started, but was interrupted by Ethan saying

"Yeah, that does make sense. Alright Dr. O, we won't go with you. We'll stay here to protect the Earth" with that said Trent, Ethan, and Conner then ran off before Tommy could say anything else. "You don't agree with them?" Tommy asked Kira.

"Not really, I mean, you don't want us to go or to fight, so I won't" she said with a smile on her face. "Did I…miss something?"he asked. Kira just continued to smile as she backed away and went to class.

Angel Grove Elementary School…

"Principal Kent, I've been working here for six years without taking a vacation, so I've decided to take it now. I've already found a substitute for the next few months and everything" Kat smiled.

Principal Kent sighed "Well, I guess since you went through all the trouble of doing that…have fun!"

Astro Megaship Mk II…

"Anyone there?" Billy asked.

"Oh, yes, right here Billy," Karone replied "What did you find out?"

Billy sighed "Well, it says here that he hid the sixth gem somewhere on Mirinoi, but that's as specific as it gets. I'm sorry I couldn't find more for you."

"It's okay…" Karone replied absently. Her mind was in a distant place as she thought of where the gem might be.

About an hour later the rest of the rangers returned and were greeted at the door by Karone who had a big smile on her face. "Did you-" Andros started to say, but was quickly interrupted. "I know the sixth crystal is! It's on Mirinoi, and I believe I know specifically where."

"Alright, D.E.C.A, plot a course for Mirinoi," Andros said to D.E.C.A 2.O the ships computer. "Acknowledged Andros" D.E.C.A replied. A few minutes later they were headed for Mirinoi.


	4. Chapter 4

** 5**

On the way to Mirinoi…

"Karone," Kat said "Didn't you say Mirinoi had already been attacked?"

Karone nodded and said "Yes, he attacked us and kidnapped Leo, the rest of the Galaxy Rangers were left badly beaten," she sobbed.

"Why did he only take Leo?" Andros asked as he walked up to see what his sister was crying about, "I'm not sure. He just said that Leo is very important and that he needs him."

"And you have no idea what Trixabus wants?" Andros asked putting his arm around his sister. Karone just shook her head. "Andros," D.E.C.A called "We are coming up on Mirinoi now. Preparing to enter the atmosphere."

"That's good D.E.C.A, everyone take a seat." Andros said as he sat in his seat. "Ay yi yi yi! Andros, there's someone in the engine room!" Alpha cried as he came running in. "I'll go check it out," Tommy said. Tommy made his way from the bridge to the engine room, walking slowly so as not to alert the intruder to his presence. 'Here it is' he thought "Alright, come on out whoever you are!" Slowly Kira came out from the other side of the engine.

"Kira?!" he said, shocked "What are you doing here?"

"Well I had to get my Dino Gem back," she said smiling. He raised an eyebrow in confusion "Your Dino Gem? What do you mean?"

"Look in your right pocket,"

Tommy looked in his pocket and pulled out the Yellow Dino Gem. "When did you put that there?" he asked "I never felt a thing!"

"I planted it on you, back at the high school. And hey, y'know, we really need to find a better meeting place. Just because Hayley moved and the Cyber Café closed down doesn't mean we have to meet at the school."

"It's just convenient for me is all, but that's not the point. I told you to not to come."

"I know,"

"So why did you?" he asked firmly "This enemy isn't like Mesagog, he's far worse."

"I know you could use the help. Besides, Reefside hasn't seen any action in, like, six years. I highly doubt this Trixa-whatever guy will strike there." Tommy just shook his head and thought 'Man, just like we were when first started out all those years ago.'

He sighed "Alright, fine. You can accompany us. But this guy was able best the Lost Galaxy Rangers, and they've been Rangers a lot longer you. So be careful." Kira smiled and patted his shoulder "Don't worry Dr. O. I can take care of myself. Come on Tori, we've been found out." Tommy raised both eyebrows "Tori? The blue Wind Ninja Academy Ranger? You brought her too?" Tori slowly climbed out from behind the engine "Yeah, Kira called me and filled me in on the situation. It sounds like you could use all the help you can get."

"Come on, we better get to the bridge," Tommy said "We're about to land."

Tori looked over at Kira and said "Can you believe this?" Kira looked at her with a smile on her face and said "I know! Space travel! I never thought I'd ever get the chance!" As they entered the bridge Tommy introduced Tori and Kira to Andros, Ashley, Kat, and Karone. "It's a pleasure to meet you Kira, Tori" Kat said.

"You too Kat," they said.

On Trixabus' ship…

Golver entered the throne room of the ship to inform Trixabus of they're location. "Lord Trixabus, we are approaching Earth's moon now. Shall I set us down outside of Lord Zedd's old palace?"

"Yes, that will be fine Golver. Where is that bumbling buffoon Rito at? Take him and lead an army of fantomites to Angel Grove when we get there."

Golver bowed and said "Yes, at once my Lord. Rito! Where are you?" Rito came bumbling into the throne room "You call me Goldar?"

"It's Golver! Goldar was my brother you idiot."

"Oh right, I forgot. Sorry Goldar, oops, sorry did it again." He snickered "Anyway, whaddya want?"

Golver pointed his sword at Rito and said "We're leading an army into Angel Grove after we land. Prepare the fantomites!"

"Right away buddy!" Rito said. Golver just growled and hid his face in his palm. "How did I get stuck with such a stupid partner?" he asked himself. "Lord Trixabus, how exactly did Rito escape the Z-Wave that destroyed my brother and reformed Lord Zedd?"

"Aw that's easy buddy, y'see I-"

"I believe he asked me you worthless fool!" Trixabus bellowed "He hid in Rita and Zedd's Dark Dimension. Apparently it kept him safe from Zordon's purifying energy. And lucky for us he did. Somehow that idiot found the key to release us. Rito! Get going! Assemble the fantomites!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot, right away Trixy!"

"Golver," Trixabus said "bring the captive Ranger. Now!"

"Right away my Lord!" Golver shuddered at the thought of what Trixabus might do to Leo. A few minutes later Golver returned with the captive Leo handcuffed. "Ah, Red Ranger," Trixabus mused as Leo was placed before him "You know what I want. And how to get it too." Leo struggled against his restraints and said "You'll never get Kron's last gem!"

"That is not all I require to become whole again Ranger. You know I also need other six Gems. I require all seven of Kron's gems to become my fearsome self again. And you will tell me where he hid the sixth, and where his apprentice Zordon hid the seventh."

"What about the others?" Golver asked.

"His girlfriend already came and got those. But no matter, they will be mine soon enough."

Back on Mirinoi…

The seven rangers exited the ship along with Alpha and were greeted by the elders of Mirinoi. After they went to check on Damon, Kendrix, Kai, and Maya, they headed for the cave where Karone believed the sixth stone to be. "It should be just ahead, but watch out. This area is known to have Quantrons and Stingwingers around it." As soon as she said it an army of both appeared. "Spinosaurus Power UP!"

"Dragonzord Power UP!"

"Raptorzrod Power UP!"

"Prehistoric Shark Power UP!"

"Pteranodon Power UP!"

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form HA!"

"Dino Thunder Power UP!"

In a flash of red, green, blue, yellow, purple, and black they all became the Prehistoric Rangers, the Blue Wind Ninja Ranger, and the Yellow Dino Ranger. Andros pulled out his Spino-Axe and charged into the center of the army and blew a fourth of them away "Wow!" he said "This axe is amazing!" Ashley pulled out her Ptera-sword and hacked away at the Quantrons, when she pushed a buttons on the hilt the Pteranodon head opened and huge gust of wind came out that blew them into space "Awesome!" Karone pulled her Rapto-blades out and ran straight down the center of the Stingwingers, along with Kira, which made it easy for Tori to blow them away with her Water Ninjutsu. "Cool," she said examining the blades. Kat pulled her Shark-blaster out and fired at the rest of the Quantrons along with Tommy throwing his Dragon Dagger at them, and the Quantrons retreated. "That was great!" Kat exclaimed. They then powered down and entered the cave.

She led them to the very back where a waterfall was coming in through an opening up top. "Take your gems," she said to the others "and hold them here with mine." She took the Purple Gem and held it behind the waterfall and against the rock. Tommy, Kat, Andros, and Ashley did so as well. The wall began to tremble, and after a few minutes it slid back and to the left to reveal a hidden room. In the center of that room was a pedestal with a cloth in the center. The rangers then entered the room, Tommy touched the cloth and it disintegrated due to being so old. "Whoa," Tommy said "Look, here it is. The sixth gem." Tommy picked the White Gem up. "Looks like now we need to find the ranger this gem belongs to," he said.

"Yeah," Andros added "Kron didn't say these gems glow while in the presence of the person they belong with, just the other gems."

"Then how come it's not glowing?" Tori asked, looking at Tommy, then Andros. Tommy opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. He was stumped. Kron hadn't told them how to find the Ranger the gem belonged to. Tommy then said "Looks like we have a great search on our hands. But we need to get back to Earth to defend it from Trixabus. We need to make it back before he does…"


	5. Chapter 5

**6**

Tommy looked at Andros and said "Andros, there's a portal connecting Earth and Mirinoi. It's how Leo and the Galaxy Rangers were able to reach Earth and help the Lightspeed Rangers, but it's extremely dangerous to use."

'Speaking of Lightspeed, I need to pay them a visit.' Tommy reminded himself.

"So, what're you getting at?" Andros asked curiously.

Tommy looked at him and said "I want you to take the others and use the Astro Megaship to get back to Earth, I'm going to use the portal to get there quicker and be able to face Trixabus if he makes it there before you."

Andros looked at Tommy with a worried expression on his face "And if he's there, what're you going to do?"

"I'll face him alone if I have to. Hell, I faced Turbanshell, Goldar, and stole a crystal from Lord Zedd in one day without even having my powers. I think I can handle this new guys flunkies just as well."

"Yeah but Tommy, you're not as-" too late, he had already jumped through the portal when it opened "-young as you used to be." Andros returned to the others and told them that it was time to go. When they asked where Tommy was he explained about Tommy's reckless move. "Well we've got to with him!" Kira said standing up out of her seat. Andros sighed and said "No, Kira, it's too dangerous. Look, he may be getting older but Tommy's still a force to be reckoned with."

"Kira," Kat said in a soothing tone "Tommy's always known what's best for the team, even if it's not best for him. He'll be okay. I promise." Defeated and outnumbered Kira sighed and said "Yeah, I guess." Then muttered "Stupid Dr. O…"

Back in Angel Grove…

Golver and Rito had taken an army of fantomites to Angel Grove, the scene reminded everyone of Astronema's takeover twelve years before.

"Yes, you pathetic Earthlings, pledge your allegiance to my master, Lord Trixabus!" Golver growled as he stood atop Bulks Juice Bar. "Yeah, what he said!" Rito added.

"Hey Bulkie," Eugene Skullovich whined.

"Yeah Skull?" Bulk managed.

"I think I need to call my wife and tell her I'll be late getting home tonight." He whined "If I get back at all."

"S-sure thing…" Bulk reached into his pocket and pulled his cell out "Here. Just don't use all my minutes whining."

"Thanks Bulkie." Skull dialed in the number and listened to it ring.

"Hello?" came a familiar woman's voice.

"Hey honey its m-m-me"

"Skull? Is everything alright?"

"Uh…yeah, yeah it's just another normal day in Angel Grove, hanging out at the Juice Bar with Bulk, and oh yeah, another alien invasion. So I don't think I'll make it for dinner, unless they let us go. But any way's…" he cleared his throat "HELP!!!" he screamed.

"Alright, alright I'll be there soon. Just hang on."

Then she hung up. "You think Kim will make it here before they turn us into chimps or something?" Bulk asked worriedly, remembering the time he and Skull had been turned into chimps by Elgar. "Ah, gee Bulkie, I don't know. When she was a Power Ranger she always showed up when we needed her."

"Yeah, but that was then. She's not a Ranger anymore."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Face it Skull, we're really screwed this time."

Meanwhile somewhere in California…

A dark green portal opened up in the sky and out of it came a green and gold clad warrior. Tommy hit the ground with a dull and muffled 'THUD'. 'Aw, what a trip. Where am I?' Tommy wondered. He walked around the beach and up into the city where he saw a live news broadcast of the Space Ranger's being defeated by Golver and Rito. "…And in this time of crisis, with the Power Rangers defeated, what hope do we have?" the news reporter said. "

"Oh no. He still beat me here. Hold on guys!" Tommy wandered the streets trying figure out what city he was in. Finally he saw a sign that told him he was in Mariner Bay. 'Mariner Bay? That's perfect, I'll stop by the Lightspeed Guardians base and see if they can spare any Ranger's to help!"

'It's great that the Silver Guardians and Operation Lightspeed teamed up to create a special force' he thought as he headed for the new Ground Base.

"Captain Mitchell," he said as he approached the door "it's me, Tommy Oliver." A second later the doors opened and Tommy was welcomed in. "Tommy! Er, Dr. Oliver, what can I do for you?" Mr. Collins asked as he greeted him at the door.

"Hey Mr. Collins, where's Captain Mitchell?" Tommy asked looking around the new base. Mr. Collins cleared his throat before speaking "He's over at the Aqua Base, overseeing our new project. But what can I do for you?" Tommy explained the situation in Angel Grove and that he needed to borrow the Rangers to help him until his team arrived back on Earth. "I'm afraid the only Ranger I who isn't out on a mission right now is Ryan."

"That's fine, sir, two rangers are better than one. Thank you" Tommy said with relief that they at least one ranger to spare, which is one more than he was expecting. "Ryan," Mr. Collins said into his communicator. "Yes sir?" Ryan replied.

"I need you to meet Tommy Oliver over at Angel Grove ASAP!"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Thank you sir," Tommy said again.

"My pleasure," Mr. Collins smiled "Anything to protect the world."

After thanking him again Tommy then proceeded to teleport to Angel Grove. 'Aw man, it's worse than I thought…" he said as he landed in the alley behind the Juice Bar. As he thought of a way to surprise Golver and Rito he heard a familiar "Ha! Take that, hyah!"

'Kim?' he wondered. He peered around the corner and saw his ex-girlfriend, Kimberly Ann Hart battling the creatures that plagued Angel Grove. 'Perfect' he thought 'while she keeps their attention I'll get the drop on those two.'

He jumped up behind Rito and Golver, delivered a kick to Rito's head so hard that it knocked it off. "What?" Golver growled, he turned to see Tommy standing before him clad in the Green Ranger outfit. "Hey, a little help here" Rito's head called up from the streets while his body searched for it on the roof. "Goldar?" Tommy asked, surprised. Golver chuckled and growled "No, I am his brother, Golver!" For some unknown reason Golver felt and extreme hatred directed at Tommy in particular 'Why?' Golver asked 'Why do I hate him more than the rest? Oh well, no matter.'

"Prepare to be defeated, Green Ranger!" Golver roared as he jumped up into the air, carried by his wings. "Oh great, another flying baboon." Tommy joked. Golver brought his sword down, attempting to strike Tommy, but he blocked it with his Dragon Dagger. "Man, it's time's like this I miss Saba and my Zeo Sword!" He punched and kicked Golver, but none of it had any effect. When Golver would swing his sword at Tommy he would dodge or block It with his Dragon Dagger. He missed one time and Golver cut through his suit and tore his skin, just barely as Tommy managed to move out of the way a little. "Man, I really miss those two swords."

Ryan showed up then, "Tommy!" he called "Hey, sorry it took so long but I'm here now. I'll take care of this guy" he pointed to the newly whole Rito.

"Alright, thanks bro!"

"Titanium Power!" Ryan shouted and in a bright silvery-white flash he became the Titanium Lightspeed Ranger. Tommy continued to battle Golver, he'd been at it for hours. The sun was starting to set. Suddenly though, Golver's armor began to fluctuate from silver to gold. It seemed to cause him pain, as he cried out in agony every time it happened. "Rito," he cried "We-we have to retreat for now."

"Yeah, I agree Goldar, oops, Golver" In a dark flash of light the two enemies and the army of fantomites vanished. Tommy, exhausted from his battle unwillingly de-morphed and fell off the Juice Bar, Ryan just barely caught him and kept him from hitting the ground. "Is he alright?" Kim asked as she, Bulk, and Skull walked up.

"I'm not sure. I don't think he's ever stayed morphed in battle for this long. I don't think anyone has." Ryan took Tommy into the Juice Bar and laid him out on one of the workout mats.

"We better call Hayley and Jason, tell them what happened."

"Good idea," Kim agreed.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Skull asked, pointing to Tommy.

"I don't know, to be honest," Kim said. Bulk and Skull went behind the bar to get fresh smoothies for Kim, Ryan, T.J, Cassie, and Carlos.

"Hey, babe, you were great out there, I mean taking on those guys with no powers and all" Skull said as he kissed Kim "Thanks," she smiled and kissed him back.

"Hey, Bulk, Skull, thanks for dragging us to safety earlier," T.J said taking a gulp of his smoothie.

"Yeah, thanks guys," Cassie added.

"That actually took courage for you two to come running out there to save us. Thank you," Carlos said.

"Hey, you guys have saved us countless times, it's the least we could do," Bulk said. Skull went behind the bar to make Kim a smoothie himself "Hey Bulkie, how does this thing work exactly? I've never used the new smoothie maker" he put the fruits inside and pushed the button. "No Skull! You forgot the-" fruit splattered all over Skull's face all behind the bar "lid…"

Back on the Astro Megaship…

"About how much longer will it take us to get to Earth?" Kira asked.

"About another hour," Andros replied checking to make sure the autopilot was still set. Kira sat back in her seat and muttered "D***, that long?" Karone turned to look at her saw her expression, it was one of worry. "What's wrong Kira?" she asked, Kira glanced at Karone staring at her. "It's just, I have a bad feeling about Dr. O" she replied sadly.

Kat looked at her and said "You too?" Kira nodded. Ashley looked around at everyone, seeing their faces and made an attempt to cheer them up "Aw c'mon guys, out of all of us Tommy's been a ranger the longest. He has the most experience, I'm sure he's fine."

Kira forced a smile and said "Yeah, you're right."

Tori nudged Kira and said "Hey, let's get Andros to give us a tour of the ship, it'll help time fly. Plus he's cute!" Ashley heard that and glared over at Tori for a second.

"Yeah, alright," Kira agreed "hey Andros, could you give us all a tour of the ship?" Andros sighed and got up "Come on," he said cheerfully.

'Something's bugging him…' Karone thought 'He usually loves giving the tour…'


	6. Chapter 6

**7**

Jason and Hayley showed up to help Tommy, they took back to his place in Reefside and Hayley made him some soup while he and Jason talked. "Bro, man what were you thinking? You know that no one's ever been able to stay morphed WHILE fighting for that long. You're lucky it didn't kill you!"

"You're also lucky I was on the roof as well," Ryan added.

"And you're not as young as you used to be Tommy," Hayley said bringing the bowl of soup in. "Guy's, I'm fine. I just overdid it a little is all, quit worrying." Tommy said as he took the hot bowl. "A little!" Hayley shrieked "Thomas Oliver, you nearly fell, correction, you DID fall off the roof. Ryan's right, you're lucky he was there to catch you."

"Guy's," Tommy said "I've been through worse. Trust me."

Jason looked at his friend and said "You just won't listen to reason, will you? You're too focused on always trying to save the world and everyone around you that you don't even stop to think about yourself, do you?" Tommy had no response, he just sat and ate his soup quietly. Breaking the silence was '_beepbeep beep' _ coming from Ryan's morpher "Sorry, guys, guess they need me back at Lightspeed. Tommy, listen to these two and take care of yourself. See ya."

"See ya Ryan." The three all said. Then Jason and Hayley went back to glaring at Tommy. He abruptly finished his soup and said "Sorry to worry you guys. I'll try to be more careful, no promises though. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go do some work." Before either one could respond Tommy swiftly made his way to his basement, lifting the dinosaur head up to reveal the secret doorway. After he made it down he pulled the white Prehistoric Gem out of his pocket and opened the safe he had built into his wall. He placed the gem next to an old piece of lava rock he had found in Angel Grove a few months ago. 'I'll set it here until Andros and the others arrive.

Back upstairs Jason and Hayley were talking amongst themselves. "Do you think he'll ever give up being a Ranger?" Hayley asked, trying not to let the tears out that she had been holding back for a few hours. "Knowing Tommy, I doubt it. I mean, he's been through what six power changes and four colors now? The guy won't be happy till he's every color of the rainbow!" Jason chuckled, and he even managed to get a grin out of Hayley. "But come on, it's Tommy. He always finds a way out of any mess he gets himself into. He'll be fine."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, I wish I could help him though. Do more than sit at a computer and take care of his injuries."

"I know how you feel," Jason said "I remember when Divatox released Maligore from the volcano and all I could do was watch as my friends battled in him in the Turbo Megazord. And before that was the final fight against King Mondo, right after I gave the Gold Ranger Powers back to Trey." He sighed "It's not easy being on the sidelines, but sometimes, when it's all you can do, you have to appreciate that you're at least doing something." Almost as if it was on cue, right after Jason finished speaking they heard an explosion come from the basement. Immediately they ran down to see what had happened. After they made their way through the smoke and could see a little more clearly they found Tommy laying unconscious sprawled out in the middle of the floor. "Tommy!" Hayley shrieked "Tommy are you alright?!" she ran over and lifted his head into her lap "Speak to me Tommy!"

He coughed for a few minutes then wiped the dust and dirt away from his face and tried to speak. All he could manage was "G-ge…the…ge…ms…" and then he passed out again.

Back on the Astro Megaship…

"…And this is the engine room, though you should know that" Andros said to Kira and Tori. "Andros," D.E.C.A said "We are coming up on Earth. Preparing to enter the atmosphere." Andros and the others ran back to the bridge and took their seats while Andros expertly landed the ship at the NASADA Spaceport. "Look at the city…" Kat said "You can tell that there was definitely a battle…"

"How's Dr. O?" Kira asked, forgetting that they didn't know yet.

"Dr. O?" Kira asked called over her communicator "Dr. O, are you there?" The reply she received wasn't Tommy, but Jason. "This is Jason, Kira right? You guys better get to Reefside, to his house, as quickly as possible" and with that Jason was gone.

"Did something happen to Tommy?" Kat asked, Kira shrugged, but her expression told them that most likely, something had.

They got to Tommy's in about an hour later. When they entered the room they saw Tommy laying on his back, still unconscious, and a blonde woman dressed in a Pink T-Shirt and a white lab coat sitting next to him, treating him. "Oh my God!" Kira cried out "Is he alright?"

The woman sat up and walked over to the Rangers who had just entered the room. "He will be," she said "after a few days of rest." Kira's stance lightened and she let out a breath she'd been holding in. "Thank goodness" she whispered. Hayley appeared from the basement and said "Dana, thank you for coming on search short notice. I know things must be busy over at the Aqua Base."

Dana smiled and said "It was no problem at all, anything for a fellow ranger." Kira couldn't wait any longer, she asked "What happened to him?" Hayley sighed and said "He fought some flying silver monkey for almost half a day and exhausted himself. The Powers aren't meant to be used that long without the user having a break. But Tommy, the knucklehead, over exerted himself. If he had forced the morph any longer he would've died."

Everyone, well everyone who just entered, eyes grew wide and Tori asked "But you're sure he'll be okay?" Dana nodded and repeated that he needed a few days rest before morphing again. Hayley, Jason and Dana had decided to keep the explosion the two gems caused between them until they could figure out just why they caused an explosion. "Everyone go home and get some rest, I'll call you in a few days to give you an update on his situation" Hayley said. After about another half hour everyone except Andros and Karone went to get some sleep.

"You're hiding something," Andros said, Karone nodded in agreement with him. Hayley sighed and decided to tell Andros and Karone what had happened. "You mean there's a seventh gem and he's had the it for a few months now? Before we even knew of their existence?" Andros asked in shock. Hayley and Jason both nodded. "He found a lava rock in Angel Grove a few months ago while visiting Bulk and Skull, he felt a power within it and thought it might be another Dino Gem. But when he brought it back and we analyzed it we found that it was of a different origin, and that the lava rock had crashed on top of it and somehow grown around it." She paused and sipped some tea "In fact, we couldn't even extract it from the rock, but somehow the explosion freed it." Jason held his hand out to show them the white gem they had found on Mirinoi, and a dark pink, magenta, gem that had been encased in the rock. "All we need to do now is find the owners of these gems. And apparently neither one is mine, I don't feel any power coming from them."

"Then who?" Karone asked.

Meanwhile on Trixabus' ship…

"You idiots, you bumbling buffoons!" Trixabus bellowed "How could you be beaten by three humans?! One of which didn't even have any powers!!" Golver and Rito cowered away in fear. "I'm sorry master," Golver growled.

"Yeah, sorry Trixy," Rito said, biting his nails.

"Ooooh are you lucky that I'm in a good mood. Otherwise you'd be chicken wings," he pointed to Golver, "and you'd be a pile of dust" he pointed to Rito. "Don't worry master," Golver growled "we won't fail you again!"

"You'd better not," Trixabus moaned "I think I need a nap…"

Back in Reefside…

About three days had passed since Tommy had nearly died overusing his power. Finally on the third day his eyes shot open, and he sat up so fast that it made Hayley scream. "Ow," he said grabbing his head "What happened? I feel like I was hit by a bus…"

"Close enough," Jason remarked "You were caught in an explosion. Tommy, why did the two gems cause that explosion?"

"Honestly, Jase, I wish I knew. All I know is that I set the white one next to the lava rock, and a few seconds later they were glowing brightly and then BOOM. I'm in the middle of the lab." He massaged his forehead "Did you get the gems?" Jason held them out in his hand, showing Tommy the White and Magenta Gems. "Pink huh? Never seen a pink gem before…ow…"

"Tommy," Hayley asked "do you need some aspirin?" Slowly and silently he nodded his head. A few minutes later Andros and Karone walked up the lab/basement. "I didn't see anything that was too damaged. Except the safe." Tommy looked at Andros who seemed happy that his friend was awake finally, then at Karone, who seemed to have something on her mind. Before Tommy could ask her what she was thinking, she asked Andros what had been wrong on the ship. "Hm? Oh you mean with the tour, I just had a feeling that something was off with Tommy. It's a psychic link, sorta, that we Red Rangers have. It may be the powers, or it may be instinct, I'm not really sure. But whenever something is off with one of us, the others sense it. That's why I'm not too worried about Leo. I can sense that he's fine. Don't worry Karone, we'll rescue him soon enough."

"Thank you Andros," she said, giving her brother a tight hug.

Later that day Karone pulled Tommy off to the side to tell him what had been on her mind earlier. "You okay Karone?" he asked as they entered the basement. "No. Well, I am, it's just that. I know what that magenta gem was encased in…"

Tommy's eyebrows raised up and he said "Yeah, so do I." Karone's head shot up and she said "You know that was a piece of Dark Specter?!" Tommy nodded his head. "But how? I mean, you never saw him."

"I saw the fragments fall to Earth though. When I found the lava rock with the gem inside it I tried to free the gem, but something kept it inside. I'm afraid to give that gm to anyone. For all I know it could cause another evil ranger. And trust me, nobody wants that. Especially me." Karone looked down again. "Hey, I know you used to be evil. And I bet you still think you have to keep repenting, am I right?" She nodded. "I know because I've been there. More times than I care to count. You never heard the story of how I became a Ranger, did you?"

Karone looked up at him and said "No."

"Well, it all started on my first day at Angel Grove High. The evil empress Rita Repulsa…" he went on to tell her his whole story as a ranger, about losing the Green Powers, gaining the White, the Ninjetti, then the switch to Red Zeo, Prince Gasket brainwashing him to be evil again, his brief stint as the Red Turbo Ranger, and the Black Dino Ranger. He told it all. A couple of hours later when he finally finished, or was almost finished, Karone leaned in and kissed him without any warning at all. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back.

Back upstairs the other Rangers had all gathered in Tommy's kitchen and living room. Kira, Tori, and Kat were talking about the missions they'd been on with Tommy, and Kat also talked about how she and Tommy used to date. Ashley and Andros talked to Jason and Hayley, with Ashley looking over at Tori every few seconds to make sure she kept her eyes to herself. 'I swear she better not make a move on Andros…' Ashley thought.

Jason was still holding the white and magenta gems in his hand, Having forgotten about them, until his hand began to burn a little. "Yeow!" he said as it grew more intense, he dropped the two gems on the floor. He bent over and picked the magenta gem up, while the white rolled over to Hayley's feet, where she bent down and picked it up. When she did she felt the Power from it flow through her. 'This must be what it feels like to have the Ranger Power flow through you…' she smiled 'Wait a second, if I can feel the power flowing through me, then that means…I'm the White Ranger!'

"Hayley," Jason said "Hayley, I need that gem back."She looked at him and debated whether or not to tell him and the others yet. She decided not to, and handed the gem over to him. "Here you go."

Back in the lab…

After Tommy and Karone finished making out, they began to talk. "So…" Karone said with a nervous smile on her face "does this mean that we, that you and I are…together?" Tommy, still in shock from making out with his friend's sister, thought about it for a minute and replied "Well, yeah. I mean, if you want to be. I know I do."

"Theeen…it's settled!" Karone smiled "We're together. But be careful not to p*** me off, I was once Astronema, Queen of Evil, remember?" she joked. Tommy smiled and laughed then "Don't worry, I won't. Wait a second…evil…that's it!"

"What's it?" she asked, puzzled.

"That's what caused the explosion, the combined energies of the white, the good, gem and the magenta, the evil, gem. But now that it's free from Dark Specter's remnant, I wonder if it's still evil…I wonder if it retained the evil from him…"

"I don't know," she said, wrapping her arms around his arm.

Back on Trixabus' Ship…

"So," Trixabus said as he spied on Tommy's house with the same scope vision Zedd had "The pink gem is evil, and what's this? All seven gems are now together! Oh this is too perfect!" he laughed maniacally "Golver!"

"Yes Lord Trixabus, what can I do for you?" he growled.

"I want you to take the prisoner down to Earth and hold a public execution for Red Galaxy Ranger!" he then laughed even harder.

Back in Tommy's house…

Tommy ran up from the basement and bolted into the living room 'Guys, do you feel that?" he quickly asked. Jason and Andros nodded. "It's Leo," Andros said "He's in trouble."

"That Red Ranger…psychic link?" Karone asked. All three nodded.

"Where is he though?" Jason asked.

"It seems like his Power is coming from Blue Bay Harbor…but I can't pinpoint it exactly to the spot…" Andros said. "Well we've got to go save him!" Tori said "I'll call Shane and the others and have them start searching, but if he's in trouble we need to go now!" They all nodded and jumped in Tommy's black Jeep and Kira's yellow camaro and headed for Blue Bay Harbor.


	7. Chapter 7

**8**

The ride to Blue Bay Harbor was eerily quiet, hardly anyone said a word. This was good for Karone, as it allowed her time to think clearly. 'I can't believe I kissed Tommy…and now we're together?' she sighed in her head 'It all happened so fast. I remember him telling me about how he became a Ranger, he was evil, though not by choice, and he joined to repent for his misdeeds. Then he was eventually turned evil again, but believed himself to be good…' again she sighed in her head. 'I felt such a strong connection to him right then, but was a real connection, or a heat of the moment connection? I need to talk to him, tell him we need to take things slow, and then I'll know for sure. Though I'm sure he knows that we need to take it slow. And then there's telling Andros. Wonder how he'll take it. Oh this is such a mess right now. But I gotta focus, focus on saving Leo!'

Tommy had Jason drive his Jeep so he could think without getting everyone killed in a crash. 'Man, I need to sit down with Karone and have a real talk with her. Tell her that we should take it slow. I hope she'll understand…of course she will. She's a nice, level headed person.'

"Hey bro," Jason said "Yo Tommy, you alright man? You look like that fifteen year old boy who was nervous about asking Kim to the dance late freshman year. What's on your mind man?" Tommy glanced back and saw that Andros was in the back, so he shot Jason an 'I'll tell you later' look that he used before. Jason just nodded in response.

Meanwhile in Kira's camaro Kira and Tori were talking about Andros and Blake. "So Tori, was up with you and saying Andros is cute and all that. I know we haven't talked in a while, but I thought you and Blake were together. Something happen?" Kira asked, quickly glancing over at Tori. "Well we are, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to look. I mean, I see him looking at other girls all the time. In a harmless way, it's the same with me looking at Andros."

"Well, I think you're upsetting Andros' girlfriend, Ashley. Didn't you see the way she kept glancing at you in Dr. O's place?"

Tori thought about it for a moment then said "Yeah, I guess she thinks I'm trying to move in or something. I'll talk to her about it later." The rest of the trip in Kira's car was silence.

Hayley was also deep in thought; 'should I accept the Power, or not? I mean, I know I said wanted to do more than just sit in front of a computer. But now that I'm actually given the chance…I don't know…' she let out a light sigh. 'That's it. I said I wanted to do more, so d***** I'm gonna do more!'

"We're coming up on the city," Jason said to Tommy, Andros, Hayley, and Ashley, then again through his communicator to Kira, Tori, Karone, and Kat. Tommy looked up to the sky and saw three figures on top of the local bar, two standing and one on his knees. 'That's gotta be Leo up there' he thought.

"Jason, speed up!" Jason floored the accelerator and Tommy's Jeep became nothing more than a black blur. Kira followed, accelerating her Camaro. Jason tapped the brakes to let Kira know they were slowing down. As they approached the building Tommy jumped out of the Jeep and morphed in midair "Dragonzord Power UP!" he landed on the roof right behind the bar. "Hey baboon face, did ya miss me?" he yelled as he leapt over to the bar and drew his Dragon Dagger in an attempt to strike Golver.

Golver easily blocked it with his sword and threw Tommy to the roofs ground. "Hello again Green Ranger, so nice to see to you again, Tommy!"

Tommy's head jerked when he heard his name come from that monster. 'I never told him my name though…how does he know it?' That was his next question, "How do you know my name?" he demanded. Golver chuckled and his armor once again began to fluctuate from silver to gold, though he didn't seem to be in pain this time. 'Aw man, what now? Is this how he grows?' Tommy thought as he jumped to his feet and back a few steps.

"You don't recognize me, do you Tommy?" Golver growled "I have to admit, I'm crushed. After all, we have such a history together. Or don't you remember?" Suddenly the armor stopped fluctuating from silver to gold, and became pure gold. That, along with the facial features and black hair told Tommy who his adversary was.

"Goldar! But how?!" he yelled in surprise.

"If you're asking how I escaped Zordon's Energy Wave, I didn't. It's true he destroyed my physical body, but the evil has to go somewhere. Lucky for me Rita's evil went to the Shadow World. But as for me, my evil was absorbed into my brothers being. Lucky for me also, that he was trapped in another dimension and Zordon's Energy Wave couldn't travel through dimensions."

Tommy retorted with "Well it's nice, I guess, to see that you've gotten smarter in the past twelve years. Or was your brother the one with the superior brain, and you the, well, the dud you got."

"Silence you fool!" Goldar shouted as he thrust his sword at Tommy. Unfortunately Tommy didn't dodge it in time and it went through his shoulder. Jason and the others showed up just as he was stabbed. "Tommy!" they all shouted. But Tommy stood again and, ignoring the obvious pain in his shoulder, began to fight again. He shouted for the others to save Leo, who Rito had moved to a new building during all the confusion. Jason, not willing to leave his friends side pulled out his old morpher and decided that if he was going to risk his life on a final morph, It'd be to try and save his best friend.

"Tyrannosaurus!" he shouted and in a bright red flash stood the proud Red Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger. "Tommy hang on!" he shouted. Jason charged Goldar, feeling the strain of his morph take its toll on him. Jason pulled his Power Sword out as he charged, and attempted to stab Goldar with it. Goldar dodged, but it did slice through the side of his armor. Jason fell to his knees from the pain his morph was inflicting on him 'Holy S*** this hurts!' he screamed in his head. Tommy, unable to use his left arm due to his shoulder being stabbed, but he continued to fight Goldar with just right arm and his legs. "Jason, you've got to de-morph, it isn't safe!"

"Tommy, shut the heck up, I know what I'm doing!" Jason stood, only to topple over again, he felt the morph fluctuate in and out, but he continued to fight it. 'I've got…I've got to help Tommy!'

Tommy took his Dragon Dagger and threw it at Goldar, luckily Goldar didn't dodge as quickly as he had with Jason's sword, and the Dagger pierced his stomach. Jason, who had finally managed to push the pain to the back of his mind ran up behind Goldar and stuck his sword his back. The intense pain rushing through Goldar was more than he could bear and his armor began to fluctuate again, this time staying silver. Golver, who was now feeling the pain, made a hasty retreat to treat himself.

Tommy put the Dragon Dagger back at his side and said "Jason, he's gone. Man, I've never seen Goldar so tough!" no response. "Jason?" Tommy looked over where Goldar had disappeared and saw Jason lying motionless on the roof's ground. "Jason?!" Tommy ran over to him and checked his pulse and breathing. He let out a sigh "He's alive. That's good. But…he needs help…" Tommy de-morphed and pulled his phone out "Hunter Bradley lives close by…"

"This is Hunter,"

"Hunter, it's Tommy, listen, I need you to come to the roof of…"he trailed off in thought 'shoot! What's the name of this bar?' he looked around for any sign of his location. "I need you come down to roof across from the bowling alley, it should be a bar. I've got a friend who needs help, Ranger help, fast!"

"Alright, I'll be there soon"

"Thanks man, but listen, I won't be here when you arrive, I've gotta go help someone else. I'll see you when it's over."

"Do you need-" the phone clicked off "any help?" Hunter finished anyway. He then began to dial in another number.

Tommy began running, jumping, from rooftop to rooftop searching for Leo and the others. About ten minutes later he found them just outside the city. Rito had summoned a monster to help him, it was about seven feet tall and had a resemblance to a tyrannosaurus crossed with a dragon. It was battling Karone, Ashley, and Andros. While Kira, Tori, Kat, and Hayley battled Rito. Tommy quickly scanned the area for Leo, and found him trapped within a forcefield. He quickly jumped and, throwing hi weight into his right arm dug his elbow into Rito's back, knocking the nauseating skeleton down on his face. "Who the-?" Rito shouted as he got up "Oh it's you, I'll take you all on no problem!"

"Tommy," Hayley yelled "we need to destroy Rito's sword, it's the source of the forcefield!" Tommy nodded in understanding and began to attack Rito with his Dragon Dagger. He finally managed to knock the skeleton's sword away and Kat then blasted it to pieces, freeing Leo.

Once free Leo joined the fight, though he was un-morphed due to not having his Quasar Saber. "Oh you'll pay for that, y'hear me?" Rito yelled.

On Trixabus' ship…

Trixabus watched the battle from the palace and said "Those bumbling idiots! Go, make my monsters grow!" he summoned a bomb and threw it at the Earth.

Back to the battle…

It landed behind Rito and the monster and exploded. When the smoke cleared they were about 5 stories high. Tommy instinctively told everyone to call on their zords. He himself jumped back and played the familiar tune on his Dragon Dagger. A few minutes later a Pteranodon, a Spinosaurus, a Prehistoric Shark, a Raptor, and the once famous Dragonzord all appeared. The Spinosaurus formed the legs, torso, and head. The Spino-head folded down to reveal the Megazords head, the Prehistoric Shark formed an arm with Spino's dorsal fin and tail detaching from its back to form an axe like weapon, same as its Ranger. The axe fit nicely into the Sharks mouth, and the raptor folded up, it's two claws coming together to make a double blade over the hand, and the Pteranodon attached to the back of the Megazord to give it flight capabilities. The four Rangers, Andros, Karone, Kat, and Ashley jumped into the cockpit of the mighty Shredder Megazord.

Tommy jumped onto the head of his Dragon Zord, still ignoring the pain in his left shoulder, and said "It's nice to see you again old friend. I've missed you." The Dragonzord cried out in response. 'Did he understand me?' Tommy asked himself. "Alright Rangers," he yelled "It's time to put these has-beens in their place, ready?"

"Yeah!" they all cried at once. The Shredder Megazord charged the Tyran-Drago monster, throwing its axe at it like a Viking, making direct contact into the monsters chest. It cried out when it was struck, and spat a couple balls of fire out of its mouth and into its hands and threw it at the Megazord, who, thanks to the Pteranodon Zord, jumped over the barrage of fireballs and flew towards the monster, grabbing the axe and pulling it free before slicing the monster up its backside, effectively destroying it.

Tommy and his Dragonzord were busy dealing with Rito, the Dragonzord spun around and hit Rito with its tail and then fired the missiles from its fingertips. Rito, who had summoned another sword, attempted to block the missiles, but it proved ineffective as he was flung backwards and into the dirt. "That's it!" Rito declared "I'm outta here, ciao baby!" he blew a kiss, head did a 360 vertical, and he was gone.

It was after the zords had gone back to their hiding places and everyone de-morphed and regrouped that they noticed Tommy's wound. "Tommy!" Karone exclaimed "What the heck happened to you?"

Tommy stifled a laugh and told them the story of his fight with Golver, and how it shifted to being Goldar, and about Jason's stunt. A few minutes into his story the saw five bouncing lights headed towards them, one green, two red, one darker than the other, one yellow, and a dark blue. When they finally stopped, Shane, Dustin, Hunter, Blake, and Cam were standing before them. "Hunter, what about-?"

"Jason's fine. He's resting at the Wind Ninja Academy" Cam interrupted. "What're you guys doing here?" Tori asked.

"It's like I said to Lothor," Shane said "'We may not be Power Rangers, but we still have Power'"

"We came to see if you guys needed any help," Blake said, looking at Tori. "But it's looks like we're a little late, see dude, I told you we shouldn't have waited on Cam," Dustin said to Shane. "Well regardless," Tommy said, wincing a little from his wound "Thank you."

"Whoa, dude, you like totally need to be helped too," Dustin said as he drew attention to Tommy's wound. "It's just a minor injury, it'll heal" Tommy argued, wincing again. "No dice," Leo said, speaking for the first time "I'm making sure you get the help you need, then I'm gonna need Andros to give me a ride back to Mirinoi. If you're okay with that, Andros"

"Oh sure, no problem"

"Thanks. Now, since you guys can move the fastest," he pointed to the Ninja Storm Rangers "Why don't two of you carry Tommy back to the Wind Ninja Academy and we'll meet you there?" Shane and Hunter nodded and each put one of Tommy's arms around their necks and began to head back to the school. Tori smiled as she walked up to Blake "Hey gorgeous," he smiled sheepishly "I missed you." Tori leaned in and kissed him "You too handsome" she smiled. Together the rest of the group made their way to the school to keep an eye on Jason and Tommy.

Sensei Kanoi welcomed the Rangers to the school and told them it may take a few days for Jason and Tommy to fully heal, and that they had rooms prepared for them should they decide to stay with them. "Thank you, Sensei" Kira bowed.

"It is my pleasure, Kira" Sensei Kanoi bowed back. "So, who bet that Jason wouldn't pull some stupid stunt, _right after_ yelling at Dr. O for the same thing?" Kira asked. Tori, Andros, and Kat raised their hands. "Looks like you owe us each thirty bucks, since we bet he would" Kira smiled.

'I could go talk to Tommy now, but I bet he's too drugged to have a serious conversation…' Karone thought. "Hm?" Andros looked at his sister "Something wrong Karone?"

"Huh? Oh nothing, just thinking about how glad I am that they're okay, that's all" she managed a weak smile 'Truth is, I'm worried that Tommy might get killed with all the stunts he pulls…'

"Cam," Hayley said to the young Asian boy beside her, would show me where the fridge is? I want to cook something special for everyone."

"Oh, sure" he said. After they entered the kitchen she told the Cam the real reason she wanted to speak with him. "Cam, I need your help"

"With what?" he asked, puzzled "Cooking?"

"No, not cooking. Building a new morpher. I've never made one by myself, I always had Tommy helping me. But I know you built the Ninja morphers. I need to make one for myself. But I don't want Tommy or anyone else to know about it until after I've used it, okay?"

"Um…sure" Cam replied "But why do you need a morpher?"

"For this," she held out the white gem. She had got it from Jason when she went to check on him while he was sleeping. "This gem chose me, but we haven't got a morpher for it. The other gems bonded with the Ranger's old morphers to give them new ones. But," she paused to look in the fridge "I've never had my own morpher. So I need help creating it."

Cam nodded and said "We'll start on it tonight after everyone goes to sleep." Andros and Leo entered the kitchen a few minutes later. "Hey guys," Leo said "I just came to say thanks for saving me, and goodbye. I've got to get back to Mirinoi."

"And I've got to take him there since the portal won't be active again for a while." Andros added "But I'll come back just as soon as I can." Hayley gave each of the Red Rangers a hug and told Andros to come home soon, for Leo to not be a stranger and to visit, as well as to have a safe trip.

Kira flipped the T.V on and began listening to music video that was playing, it was Johnny Yong Bosch's band "Eyeshine" playing their song "Fighting."

"I love this song," Kira commented.

"He looks a little like Adam," Tori replied "but just a little." When the song was over they flipped the T.V over to the news in case anything was going on that required their assistance. "In other news today, the Power Rangers defeated a terrible monster that was plaguing Blue Bay Harbor today."

"Hey look it's us," Karone noted "but…does anyone else see that?" The other Rangers looked at the screen close to see what she was talking about. "I see it!" Blake chirped, "But what is it?" Kat asked. Ashley looked hard at the screen, every few seconds a flash of black armor would appear, her eyes grew wide "He's back!" she said with a smile as she realized who it was they were looking at. "Who? Please tell me he's on our side," Dustin said.

"Yeah, he's on our side alright." She smiled even wider 'Cassie's gonna flip!' The smile and thought vanished as quickly as they had come when she heard Tori speaking to her. "Ashley, can we talk? In private?"

'Geez. I knew this was coming' she thought sourly. "Yes, what is it?" she asked when they were alone. "Well, I just wanted you to know, that I saw the way you looked at me whenever I looked at, or talked about, Andros."

"Yeah, and?" Ashley said flatly.

"Well I just wanted to let you know that I'm not gonna try to steal him or anything, I have a boyfriend. So…there's no reason for you to be jealous. Not that you were, it just seemed like you were."

Ashley sighed and said "I'll admit I was a little jealous. After, all I've been with Andros for twelve years, he finally proposed last month." Ashley's face lit up when she said that "Actually, you're the only one, besides the two of us of course, that knows that. Keep it between us though."

"Keep what between you?" piped a sort of high pitched voice.

"Yeah, what?" came a little bit of a deeper, kind of scratchy voice. Ashley jumped at the voices, Tori found that a little amusing, as a smile quickly flashed over her face. "Don't worry, that's just Marah and Kapri. They love to scare the new students by pulling stunts like that."

"Well I'm not a new student!" Ashley said, trying to catch her breath "So why are they trying to scare me?"

"You're not a student?" Marah asked as she came out of hiding "Well that certainly is disappointing. You're so pretty! I could do a lot with your hair!"

"Ugh! Would you shut up about people and their hair!" Kapri groaned as she walked up "I swear, you can be so annoying!"

"What?! But you-" Tori and Ashley quickly got out of the room before they two sisters started screaming at one another.

About a week later Tommy and Jason were fully healed, so the team decided to head back to Reefside. "You guys have a safe trip," Tori said.

"You aren't coming with us?" Kira asked.

"Nah, if this Trixabus guy is going to be attacking Blue Bay Harbor too, I figure I'd better stay here and help protect it. But if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call." Tori looked at Ashley and added "It was really nice meeting you Ashley" Ashley smiled and nodded her head in agreement. "Well, bye guys" she said again.

"Please, come back soon, you are always welcome here friends" Sensei Kanoi smiled and bowed to his friends. They all bowed in return.

After they made it back to Reefside Kira went back to the studio to record some new songs she wrote while hiding in the Astro Megaship. Hayley moved back to Reefside, along with Jason who just moving there for the first time. Hayley also re-opened the Cyber Café, much to Ethan's pleasure. Tommy went back to his job, and Kat returned to Angel Grove to teach her Kindergarten class, Karone moved in with Hayley for the time being, and Ashley went to wait for Andros to return from Mirinoi. The first moment they got alone Tommy and Jason had that talk. Hayley, Karone, and Kira didn't leave the two alone very much given their recent battle.

"So bro," Jason said "What was on your mind when we were driving to Blue Bay the other week?"

Tommy sighed and said "Well, it's Karone,-"

"Whoa, Karone as in Andros' sister?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?" Jason asked, showing great interest. Tommy began to recount the events that had happened in his lab to Jason, how he shared his past with Karone, then how she kissed him, and he her. Then he went on about needing to talk to her, but being given the chance to because of Hayley and Kira always being around. "No problem," Jason said smiling "I'll get Hayley and Kira away for a while, so that you and Karone can have that talk."

"Thanks Jase," Tommy said, relieved he could still count on his best friend when he needed. "Hey, it's what bro's are for. Am I right, or am I right?"

"You're right," Tommy chuckled "Now, as your bro I'm gonna tell you this once, don't use you morpher again. It had enough power in it for the Moon mission eight years ago, but that was the last of it." He paused, sipping his coffee "You do realize that you almost died, right?"

"Yeah, but hey, you're my bro man. I couldn't leave you to face that ugly monkey alone."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. But still."

"Yeah, I hear ya."

The next day Hayley, Karone, and Kira all drove over to Tommy's to check on him. Luckily for him Jason had decided to stay the night just in case. When he heard the car doors shut he walked outside and grabbed Kira and Hayley by the arms. "Hello ladies, nice day isn't it? Tommy's fine, don't worry about him. Hey, how about we go to the carnival?"

"What the-?" Hayley asked "Jason, what's gotten into you?" Jason whispered in Hayley's ear that Tommy needed to talk to Karone alone, and that he couldn't with the two of the always crowding him. "Oh," Hayley said, a little disappointed "Okay, I'll give him his space. Though why he couldn't just tell me himself I don't know."

"Hayley," Jason asked "are you jealous?"

Hayley looked up at him and said "What? No! Don't Be Ridiculous! Why would I be jealous?"

"You are, aren't you?" Jason said, sounding a little amused as he had never seen Hayley act this way, but he also felt bad for her. "Look, they just need to straighten some things out. Everything'll be fine. I promise."

Back in Tommy's house things were a little awkward between the two. "So," Tommy began.

"So," Karone repeated.

"I guess we should talk…" Tommy said.

"Yeah…I'll start… Look, Tommy, I really like you. I felt like we had a strong connection back there, I really did. But, I think we should take things slow…see how well we actually do together. If things seem to be working out, then hey, we'll make it official. But if not, I'd like to remain friends at least."

"It's like you read my mind and said everything I was going too," he chuckled "I do agree with you though, that is for the best. But how much time should we give it? Two, three weeks?"

"I think two would be enough," she replied.

"Two then. So, hey, to start it off, would like to have dinner? I'll cook you up something nice."

"I don't know," she said, fighting a smile.

"I promise not to bore you with all my dinosaur talk," he grinned.

"Alright," she lost the fight and let the smile spread across her face. "So, Dr. Oliver,"

"Tommy, please," he replied.

"Alright, Tommy, what's on the menu for tonight?"

"Hm…how about a pizza?" Karone looked puzzled for a second, then realize he was joking. "Actually I was thinking Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella cheese," he said.

"Mmm. Sounds delicious," she replied.

A little later the two sat down for a candlelit dinner, Tommy pulled her chair out for her, set her plate down for her, and was pretty much as chivalrous as he could be, which seemed to really impress Karone. They went on to talk about their first time as Rangers. They both seemed to feel the same about it, it was exciting, and a lot of fun, but also a huge responsibility, and they agreed it was a lot better than fighting for the forces of evil.

"Oh, whatever happened to the pink gem you found?" Karone asked "Do you still have it, or has it chosen someone?"

Tommy wiped his mouth and replied "I won't let it choose anyone. I fear it may have absorbed some of Dark Specter's negative energy, and make the person it bonds with evil. And I for one do _not_ want another evil Ranger out there. I mean, there was me, The Blue Centurion had that brief re-programming, The original Magna Defender, well, he wasn't really evil so much as focused on his goal and willing to risk lives to achieve it. Then there was Ryan, Eric also wasn't evil, just uncooperative, Merrick was possessed, the Thunder Ranger brothers were tricked, much like Ryan, then brainwashed, Trent was possessed by his gem, and then there was Nick and Leanbow, and finally Tyzzon. " He took a bite of his chicken and said "And I definitely don't want to be the cause of an evil Ranger."

Karone listened to him, and she realized that Tommy was still repenting, still trying atone for what he had done while he was forced to be evil. 'He shouldn't have to go through this all alone' she thought. She placed her hand over his and just smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

**9**

Ashley had returned to Angel Grove for two reasons; one was to wait for Andros, and two was to tell Cassie about the Phantom Rangers return to Earth.

"Hey Cass, guess what?" Ashley beamed as she sat down in the booth with Cassie "What now?" Cassie asked with fake sarcasm.

"You'll never guess who I saw on the news the other day," Ashley squeaked a little.

Cassie rose an eyebrow in confusion "Who di-"

"The Phantom Ranger!" Ashley blurted, interrupting Cassie, "I know you had a crush on him, and he seemed to like you too. But now's your chance to actually find out!" Cassie thought back to the days when the Phantom Ranger first appeared on Earth in their war against Divatox. "Ashley," Cassie said a little sternly "Have you forgotten that I'm married to Lenny now? The Phantom Ranger is my past." She sipped her cola "Besides, if he really cared about me he would've returned before now."

Ashley felt bad, because she _had_ forgotten about Lenny. Cassie had first met Lenny when his friend George stole her diary and forced her to go on a date with him. After the date though, she realized that Lenny really was a great guy, and eventually decided to actually date him. "Oh, sorry." Ashley finally said after a moment of silence.

"It's fine, but hey, I've gotta be going now. I'll talk to you later Ashley!"

"See ya!" Ashley called back, still feeling a little guilty that she had forgotten Cassie's husband. 'I wonder why the Phantom Ranger did return…' Ashley thought.

Meanwhile back in Reefside Jason had taken Kira and Hayley to the carnival. Hayley felt her pocket to be sure the morpher that she and Cam had created was still there. 'I'm glad we finished the morpher before Jason woke up from his injuries. It allowed me to place the gem back in his pocket without him knowing. Though, he has been looking at me a little weird all afternoon.' She glanced over at Jason, who was sitting between Kira and herself. 'I'm that it's just because of my semi-breakdown earlier though.'

'What's up with Hayley and Jason?' Kira asked 'They've been looking at each other weirdly all day.'

'Hayley's hiding something from me, possibly from all of us…' Jason thought as he quickly glanced at her 'I swear I felt her go through my pockets while I was recovering. Or was that a dream? No, it couldn't have been. I swear I felt it!'

"So what's next?" Kira asked in a dull, clearly bored voice.

Jason looked around and finally said "How about the House of Mirrors? Yeah?" Before anyone could answer he began to walk towards it. Hayley silently followed, and Kira groaned then followed. Once inside they saw different images of themselves. Hayley saw herself with an alien head, Kira saw herself as seven foot tall giant, and Jason saw himself as a menacing looking serial killer. "Whoa, glad that's just a reflection!" he chuckled. Hayley and Kira looked over at his reflection and Hayley said "If I ever see you looking like that, I'm running!"

Jason laughed and said "I don't blame you. I'd run from me too!"

After about another hour or so at the carnival Jason decided it was a good time to head back. When they got back to Tommy's he got out and let Hayley back in the driver seat, Karone came out of the house and got in the back of the car. Jason and Tommy watched the tail lights disappear into the night. "Well," Jason said eagerly "how'd it go?"

"It went alright. It was a nice, peaceful evening. We talked for a bit and decided to take things slow. Then we had dinner and discussed our pasts some more. Afterwards we watched a movie, Pirates of the Caribbean. After that you guys showed up."

Jason cracked a smile and said "Well I'm glad things went well for you bro. I really am."

"Thanks man." Tommy replied, you staying again tonight, or are you headed back to your place?"

"I think I'll head home. I'll see you later man!"

"Yeah, see ya."

Earlier that day in Angel Grove Kat was teaching her kindergarten class, and when nap time came around it gave Kat a chance to think. She said down at her desk and took a look around the room 'Oh they look so peaceful, and cute.' She smiled 'Why would anyone want to harm them?' she sighed. 'What was I thinking? Taking up the Power again is a way to protect them, but I don't need the Power for that. These kids really like me; what if something happened to me like it did Tommy, only I wasn't so lucky? They'd be heartbroken.' Again she sighed 'the gem may have chosen me, but I didn't choose it. I'm sure it can choose another person….maybe…'

Meanwhile off in space Andros was just landing on Mirinoi. "Andros," Leo said "Thanks again for saving me, and tell the others I said thanks again too."

"Anything for a friend," Andros said. The two Red Rangers walked the rest of the way to the colony. "Leo!" Kendrix cried out when she saw him "Thank goodness you're safe!"

"I see you guys have healed up nicely," Andros said "that's good."

"Are you responsible for saving Leo?" Kai asked.

"He's one of them, yeah," Leo said.

"Well tell the others thank you," Kendrix said.

"I will, but hey, I've got to be going now. Trixabus could attack Earth at any time, it was nice seeing you all again. Later Leo!" Andros said, and then headed back to the ship.

'Hopefully Trixabus isn't aware of my departure.' Andros thought 'If he knew I was out here on my own and he sent his goons to attack me, I'm afraid I wouldn't survive.'

Back in Reefside…

Tommy had been having the same dream over and over again for days now. Ever since his fight with Goldar. It began with him as the Black Ranger, then his Red Zeo Power would show up for battle, followed by the White Ninjetti Power, White Tiger Power, the Green Ranger Power, and finally the Evil Green Ranger. "Face it Tommy," the Evil Green Ranger would say "This is who you truly are beneath all the goodness, and beneath all the colors. You're true nature is evil! Just accept it!" Every time he would say no, and begin fighting. Only to be soundly beaten by the Evil Green Ranger every single time. But right before the Evil Green Ranger could deal the final blow he would wake up. That night Tommy woke up sweating and screaming "NO!!!!"at the top of his lungs. That wasn't new to him, he'd been waking up like that for six nights in a row. What was new was that he felt the pain from all the blows he took in his dream. "Ow," he whispered as he got up to look at the damage in the mirror. He lifted his shirt up and saw not the normal bluish-black bruises, but green bruises, pure black bruises, white bruises also showed against his tan skin, and there were red cuts all over his torso and arms. "Oh man," he groaned "they're just bruises and few scratches, so why do they hurt so ba-" before he could finish his sentence he collapsed on the floor.

* * *

I would like to add some author's notes here for the first 9 chapters, so as to explain some of my reasoning for certain things. Hmmm where to start… I guess I'll start with the villains.

Rito- The reason I put Rito in it and had him survive the events in Countdown to Destruction is because I just liked him as a villain. I thought he was funny, a comic relief villain who was also very powerful. And seeing as how he was absent during C.t.D I figured there was a way for him to survive (the reason he wasn't there, or what I read was the reason, was that the costume had fallen apart). So I figured Rita/Zedd's Dark Dimension would make a good hiding place.

Golver/Goldar- I always imagined (as a kid) that Goldar would have a silver armored counterpart of some sort, so I decided to make one and have him as Goldar's brother. The reason I had Goldar's spirit inhabit him is because Rita and Zedd were purified, and in Lightspeed Rescue a mostly obscure woman in Rita's clothing appears in the Shadow World. That's what gave me the idea for all the evil has to go somewhere. And Mesogog also added to the switching of personalities, though if you noticed it only happens around Tommy and/or Jason.

Trixabus- First off, I have no clue where the name came from, it was just what I typed. Though it prove effective as I was able to come up with a nickname for Rito to call him, Trixy (similar to how he called Zedd "Ed") and the idea to make him Zedd's brother came from the fact Zedd is my all time favorite male villain, similar to how Goldar is my favorite general type character, especially when paired with Rito. So I decided to make him look just like Zedd, but with "T" staff and a "T" atop his head. And purple and gold, as Zedd was red and silver (or chrome if you prefer).

Now for my choice in Rangers.

Tommy- because he's awesome. End.

Andros/ Karone- I've seen brothers on the same team (Hunter and Blake) but never a brother and a sister, so I decided to put them on the team. Plus they're two of my favorite rangers.

Kat- I liked her in MMPR season 3 and Zeo. So I decided to bring her back, first using the Zeo Powers. As to whether or not I'll keep her on the team though, I'm not sure.

Ashley- another of my favorite Rangers, plus you can't have Andros and not have Ashley.

Hayley- I always thought that in DinoThunder she'd become the sixth ranger and be the big techy (similar to Billy in the original who knew a lot about the stuff, and Ethan be pushed to Trini as someone who also knew a lot, but not as much).

The Green Ranger Powers- I always wanted the Green Ranger to be revived at some point,, outside of a dream, so I decided to roll with it.

Now for my choice in couple pairings

Andros/Ashley- because they just go together, and as to why they're not married after twelve years- it's coming up.

Tommy/Karone- it was actually a sort of suggestion from my first reader, and I thought it sounded alright. So let me say this now before I forget- if you have any suggestions for the future, or something you'd like to see, just say so and I'll try to make it work.

Tori/Blake- classic Ninja Storm, didn't really want to mess with it, but wanted to make you think I was.

Skull/Kim- This was actually not my idea, nor was it a readers. It was originally going to be featured in "Forever Red" but the writers had to take it out due to time constraints. But seeing how Kim acted to Skull towards the end of season 3 (for example- her car was stolen and Bulk and Skull recovered it. When she thanked them she gave Skull a hug, and ignored Bulk wanting one). So I decided to include it.

Now as to why I included a few of the Rangers as extra's and Alpha 5's appearance explanation.

Kira- I liked the character from DinoThunder and wanted to bring her back for a while.

Tori- Same reason as Kira really.

Wind/Thunder/Samurai Rangers/Dino Rangers- they may not have their powers anymore, but I still think they'd prove extremely useful in a fight. Expect to see more them at a later date.

Space Rangers- I decided that if some of the action would take place in Angel Grove that they should make frequent appearances as they were the team to serve Angel Grove, they should continue to.

Galaxy Rangers- Gems scattered and you expect one NOT to be Mirinoi?

Ryan- the Titanium Ranger was always a favorite of mine, so I decided to bring him in periodically. And while I'm at it I'll explain the reason behind Operation Lightspeed and the Silver Guardians combing. They're both a kind of police force, and in the future we have S.P.D then later Time Force. And Sky is seen holding a picture of the Red Time Force Ranger (possibly) so why not have the two teams combine to eventually form S.P.D?

Jason- another of my favorites, and my explanation behind him still having his powers is a theory I read about him having them in F.R, the sword they used for the Power Transfer merely copied the Red, Black, and Yellow powers. As when Jason, Zach, and Trini left they were still morphed while Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were morphed. But I tweaked it a bit to make it so that only so much power was left in his morpher, as opposed to Adam's which really had no power.

Eyeshine- Johnny Yong Bosch (Adam's actor) has a band called Eyeshine in which he is the singer. I thought it would be a little funny to show them on screen and have a comment about how he "looks a little like Adam. But just a little"

Oh, and the Pink (Magenta w/e) Gem- I decided that if I was to have an evil Ranger, I'd have a good reason for them to be evil. Hence the gem being encased in a piece of Dark Specter the "Monarch of all that is evil." But who know, I may surprise you with it.

Alpha 5- I wanted to explore what had happened to the little robot. Everyone assumes he was destroyed during the Eltar invasion, so I decided to incorporate it into the story. But have it show that it was Astronema who destroyed him. I did that just too sorta wrap the robots loose ends up.

Shredder Megazord- The design I tried describing for the Raptor Zords transformation was this; if any how has seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and seen the double clawed gauntlet The Shredder wears on his left arm, that's what I was going for. It's also why I called it the Shredder Megazord, obviously.

Kron's sword- though not stated, I thought it might be implied that his sword had a spell over it to become the gems when found by the right person.

Kron's spirit- his spirit was to stay with the gems until they were found.

The Zords- I know I didn't go into any detail, at all, about the zords creation. So I will here, they were linked to the gems. The zords are millions of years old, created by Kron's ancestor's which is why he could link the gems power to them, and were dormant until the gems were activated.

Guest Rangers- more Rangers like Kira, Tori, and Ryan will join the team for a few chapters or a single every so often, Kira being the main one since the main city is Reefside, with a battles spread out across the other cities, maybe the planet and beyond. I'm not quite sure. Though that was probably a small spoiler…oh well.

Dragon Zord- since I decided to find a way to give Tommy his Green Ranger (stronger, yet the same) Powers back, of course I was going to bring the Dragon Zord back in.

Spinosaurus- I wanted something similar to the Tyrannosaurus for the Red Ranger, so I decided on the Spinosaurus (like the main Dino in Jurassic Park 3). I actually figured it may be a bit more menacing too.

Again, if you have any questions or anything that you would like to see (that I can possibly work in) let me know. And please leave a review.

Thank you for reading!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**10**

Andros was taking a nap in his bunk while Alpha piloted the ship for a while. He began tossing and turning in his sleep. He was having the dream again, the same dream he had since his gem bonded with him.

"Where am I?" he asked as he sat up and looked around "What happened to my bunk?" He looked behind him and saw that his bed had been replaced with a stone slab. "What?" he raised an eyebrow. "Is this KO-35?" Andros looked around at his old home. In the distance he could here birds chirping, children playing, and the normal forest sounds. He wandered around for a bit trying to figure out just where on the colony he was. "Andros!" called a voice, he spun around to see who had called his name. His eyes widened as he stared at the Red Prehistoric Ranger suit. "What's going on?" he asked, he looked at his wrist to see his morpher was gone. "You don't know?" the suit asked, Andros shook his head no, "I'm here to see if you the true owner of my power!"

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"You were told that you were destined to receive the red gem, that's only half right. What you weren't told is that you also have to prove that you are worthy of my power."

Andros looked around and asked "Well how do I prove that?"

The Red Prehistoric Ranger tossed him his old Spiral Saber and said "You must defeat me in battle with no powers, only a weapon; then, and only then, when you have proved to be destined for the power. "

The Red Ranger summoned the Spino-Ax and charged Andros. He blocked it with the Spiral Saber and followed with a kick to the Ranger's gut, knocking him back a few feet. Andros charged him, ready to strike him, but the Ranger moved too quickly and attempted to swing the ax into Andros' back, but he ducked just in time for the ax to knick his hair. Andros then rolled to safety. Before he could stand though, the Ranger came up behind him as a red blur and grabbed him by the hair.

"Long hair is a weakness in battle, Andros. You should know better," he raised the ax to bring it down on Andros' throat. Quickly, he took the Spiral Saber and sliced a bit of his hair off in order to escape. "Hm, you got lucky," the Ranger said.

'I can't beat him just blindly attacking,' Andros thought 'I need a plan.' He looked quickly scanned the area for a hiding place, he spotted the woods about ten yards away. 'Maybe I can lose him in there… It's worth a shot.' Andros began running towards the woods, he feet pounding on the ground. 'About fifty yards to go' he thought.

"You aren't getting away that easily!" the Ranger ran to catch up, easily passing Andros in a red blur once again.

"How do you do that!" Andros demanded as he tried to keep from falling at his sudden stop. If the suit had an actual mouth it would have smirked.

"I'm beginning to think you're not worthy of my power. That you're just a silly little boy who thinks he can save the galaxy. You were lucky when you stopped Astronema's plans. If Zordon had not been there you would not have succeeded!" The Ranger laughed "You…" he laughed harder "You call yourself a Red Ranger? You're nothing more than a joke! A little boy with a little bit of power." He chuckled, calming down "You saved the universe and now you think you can do it again." He turned his back to Andros and said "You're not worthy enough to possess the power I hold within me. Take your toy saber and go home!" he began to walk away.

Andros heard and felt every word the Ranger said to him. He clenched his fist so hard that blood began dripping from it. He tightened his grip on the Spiral Saber so hard that the hilt cracked. A flash of red ran across his eyes and the Spiral Saber transformed into the Spino-Ax.

The Red Prehistoric Ranger stopped, feeling the power build up within Andros. "Well," he said "now it gets interesting." He turned to face Andros again.

One thought ran through Andros' head 'I have to win.' He charged the Ranger, running faster than he ever had before, he became a red and black blur. When he stopped running he was directly behind the Ranger. He brought the Spino-Ax up to strike him, which the Ranger quickly turned and blocked with his own Spino-Ax. As the two axe's clashed, red lightning bolts erupted from the blades.

"Yes!" the Ranger hissed "This is a fight!"

Andros threw the Ranger back and rushed him, grabbing him by the torso and slamming him into a tree. Before he could move back though the Ranger struck him in the back with his ax.

Andros cried out in pain as the ax sliced through his jacket and down into his flesh. The Ranger pulled his ax out with a sickening squishy sound accompanying it. "Hmph." The Ranger grunted "Looks like I win." He pushed Andros' limp body to the ground and once again began to walk off.

"N-not…not so…so fast!" Andros wheezed as he slowly, painfully got to his feet.

'Ignore that horrible, horrible pain, Andros. Push it to the back of your mind.' Taking slow steps at first, and gradually getting faster Andros sped past the Ranger and ran two or three circles around him before taking his ax and planting it right where the human heart would be. After he made the blow, he collapsed from exhaustion.

"Not bad," the Ranger said "not bad at all. You fought as long as you could, held out as long as your body would let you. I'm surprised you were even able to stand after my last blow. That had to slice a few ribs." He chuckled "Andros, Red Ranger, you have indeed proven that you are worthy of my power, my strength and speed are now yours." With that being said, the ranger suit disappeared and reappeared on Andros…

Andros awoke from his nap sweating and out of breath. 'Did all that really happen?' he wondered. He felt his body for any wounds and found none. He looked at his wrist and saw that his morpher had changed once again. Instead of having the gem visible the morpher now had the face of the Spinosaurus on it. "Strange…" he mused "It all felt so real…all the pain I felt, all the fatigue… Was it all really just a dream?" He looked at his morpher again and saw it flash red. "No, it couldn't have been. Something made my morpher change form…"

Back at the Reefside, at Jason's apartment…

Jason had decided to confront Hayley about what she was hiding, and he wouldn't be satisfied until he received and answer. "I have no idea what you're talking about," Hayley insisted.

"I know you're hiding something from us, your glances at me at the carnival proved that to me. Hayley, I used to BS my way through high school whenever I was questioned about my disappearances. I know when someone's hiding something."

Hayley let out a sigh of defeat and pulled the White Ranger morpher out of her pocket.

"Is that-?" Jason asked.

"-A morpher for the White Gem? Yes, and it' mine. Jason, the gem chose me!"

Jason's face lit up and he smiled a big, open mouthed smile. "That's great!" he finally said.

"But don't tell Tommy, or anyone else!" Hayley demanded "I don't want anyone trying to talk me out of doing this because they think I won't be able to handle it."

"Yeah, but-"

"Promise me, Jason," Hayley interrupted "Promise me you won't tell them."

Defeated, Jason promised. 'But only because I know you can do it. You're strong, Hayley, mind, body, and spirit.' Jason then handed her the white gem, which he had been holding onto. When it touched Hayley's hand it began glow a bright, blinding white.

Hayley placed the gem within her morpher and shouted "White Ranger Stegosaurus Power UP!!" In a bright, white flash of light Hayley became the White Prehistoric Ranger. Her helmet was that of a Stegosaurus face and the a few small back plates on the top, her outfit was pure white, except for a pink diamond in the center. She also gained throwing needles as weapons.

"This…" she said "this feels incredible!" she laughed "Power down." She faced Jason and smiled "I felt as if I could do anything while I was morphed. Is that how you first felt?"

Jason chuckled "Yeah, that's how it felt. Though now when I morph it feels like it'd kill me."

"Well that isn't surprising. Your powers are almost gone. One more morph just might kill you."

"Yeah, maybe," he said "but if I need to, I will take that chance." Hayley reached up and slapped him on the back the head.

"Ow, hey! Quit killing my brain cells!"

"I'm not sure you have any left _to_ kill!" she laughed.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I have one or two left," he smiled.

"Oh look, it's getting late. I need to go check on our favorite dumb*** and be sure he hasn't killed himself yet."

Jason laughed and said "Yeah, he always was reckless. Alright, if you do need any help though, call me." Hayley smiled and thanked him again for keeping quiet about her powers before leaving.

The drive to Tommy's took about fifteen minutes. She had to leave the city and go out to the country to get to his house. As she pulled up she noticed the bedroom light was on. 'Maybe he's just going to bed?' she thought. She got out and walked to his door and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes of nothing she called out "Tommy?" Still nothing. Knocking didn't even bring him to the door. Finally she felt around the window for the spare key and unlocked his door. "Tommy, make sure you're decent, I'm coming in!" she yelled as she walked in.

'Is he ignoring me?' she wondered 'No, I haven't done anything to piss him off, have I?' Slowly she made her way for the bedroom where the light was coming from. As she walked in she noticed his covers were torn to shreds "What the heck happened?" She took a few more steps in and saw his head lying on the floor coming out of the connecting bathroom. "Tommy!" she shrieked. Quickly she ran over to him and checked his pulse and breathing. He was alive. She then began trying to wake him, but to no avail. "Thomas Oliver, you wake up right now!" Tears began forming in her eyes as he wouldn't wake up. She quickly called the Lightspeed Aqua Base.

"Hello, I need to speak to Dana Grayson. Tell her it's an emergency." She said in between sobs. Dana picked up a minute later.

"Dana Grayson," she said.

"Dana, its Hayley. I need you in Reefside at Tommy's place right away!" before Dana could respond she hung up and dialed in Jason's number.

"Jason, its Hayley. Tommy needs help, fast!" she quickly hung up after Jason said he'd be right over. She picked him up and carried him to the living room couch.

A few minutes later Jason barreled in the door. "What's wrong" he quickly asked.

"He's not waking up," She said. Jason began lightly slapping his face to wake him up.

"C'mon bro, wake up. You gotta wake up man."

"It's no use," she said "I tried that already. I tried shaking him, I even tried smelling salts. Nothing worked.

About an hour later Dana arrived, accompanied by Ryan who insisted on coming along.

"What happened to him?" Dana demanded.

"I'm not sure. I came over to check on him, and found him unconscious on the floor." Dana lifted his shirt up to check his heartbeat.

"Whoa," she said in awe.

"What is it?" Jason asked.

Dana pointed to his torso. "Look at this, I've never seen bruises quite like this. Have you Ryan?"

"No," Ryan shook his head "it's nothing demonic. But it's not normal either…"

Dana continued her check up of Tommy. "There's no sign of a concussion. No sign of any type of blunt force trauma. I don't know what happened. But he is a vegetative state. I do know that," she said sadly.

"Not again…" Hayley choked back tears.

"We need to get him set up at the Aqua Base," Dana said "help me get him to the van."

Tommy wandered around the park "Where am I?" he asked "This place looks so familiar."

"You mean you don't remember?" said a _very_ familiar voice. Tommy quickly turned to see who it was, and when he did his eyes almost bulged out of his head.

A/N: Sorry to leave it at a cliffhanger. But any ways, what'd you think of Andros' battle?

What about Hayley's morph?

I'm trying to keep the suit designs relatively easy to explain and picture. Also something I should have addressed before; my inspiration for the suits was based on this; MMPR had dino suits with diamonds on the front and back, gloves, and boots. DinoThunder had dino suits and had diamonds along the arms and legs. I thought I'd stick with that tradition. As for the diamond being a color other than the suits main color (ex: Karone's suit is purple, but with a light blue diamond); the inspiration for that came from In Space's outfits as they had squares with each of the five main colors. I decided to do something similar like that with these suits, but different. Oh, and there is only one diamond per suit. It's not a pattern like with MMPR and DinoThunder.

Anyway, I'll wrap this up now. Thank you for reading, and please leave a review.


	10. Chapter 10

**11**

Tommy had turned around to see who it was that he had heard. When he turned around he was staring at a fourteen year old boy with a mullet and decked out in green pants and a green T-shirt. The boy stared at him and said "You really don't remember this place?" he began to walk over to the lake as he continued to speak "This is where you first tried to ask Kimberly out. You remember the dance freshman year? The one Zach gave you tips on?"

Tommy thought about it for a moment, then it all came back to him. Zach pulling some dance moves to impress Angela while trying to teach Tommy how to ask Kim out.

"Yeah, this is the lake, Angel Grove Park. It's where I first learned that-"

"-That this," the boy said as the Green Ranger suit manifested around him and the cry of a Dragon could be heard "became nothing more than a memory to you."

"That's not true, Zordon re-energized the powers for me. It wasn't until-"

"-until," the boy interrupted as the scenery changed to a rocky wasteland "Lord Zedd's Green Crystal that he used to power his Dark Rangers. Then you became," the suit fizzled away, looking like static electricity, "just a normal boy again." The boy then walked around the rock the Green Crystal once stood upon.

"Yeah but-" Tommy began, once again being interrupted.

"-But not for long." The boy finished, as the scenery once again shifted to the Command Center and the younger Tommy vanished.

Suddenly a bright, white light appeared in the ceiling, and human shaped figure descended while a Tiger's growl echoed in the background. Before Tommy now stood the White Tiger Ranger. He removed his helmet to reveal a fifteen year old Tommy Oliver. "Then I came along. The White Ranger, and your new partner Saba. But," The White Ranger continued "But these powers barely lasted a year."

"Then I beca-" Tommy started, once again being interrupted, and the scenery once again shifting. This time to Ninjor's Temple.

"Then you became me," a white clothed ninja said, before suddenly becoming The White Ninjetti Ranger as the screech of the wild and free Falcon could be heard in the distance. "The White Ninjetti Ranger. Your spirit felt so free, so full of life. Like you could take to the skies at will. But," The Ninjetti Ranger sighed "not even these lasted."

The scenery next became the Power Chamber, and the Zeo Ranger V: Red stepped out of the shadows as the Phoenix's cry echoed throughout the Power Chamber. "Next came me, Zeo Ranger V."

Tommy who had given up on trying to tell his own past, instead left it all up to the past Ranger forms. "These powers proved to be very effective in your war against the Machine Empire. But alas, they were not to be…"

The scenery shifted yet again to the Power Chamber of the Turbo era. With the sound of thunder, accompanied by flashes of red lightning and a car's engine revving in the background, the Red Turbo Ranger appeared. "You had to claim these powers in order to save Jason and Kim from Divatox. Eventually you willingly gave them up to Theodore Jay Jarvis Johnson. These powers had such an incredible effect over you that you even began racing. You chose racing over going to your high school graduation.

The scenery changed again, this time to Mesogog's lair. The Black Dino Ranger arrived out of an Invisiportal, accompanied by the cry of the mighty Brachiosaurus. "Lastly came me, The Black Dino Ranger and mentor to the four high school students. Eventually you burned through these powers as well. Only to return to-" the Black Dino Ranger burned away and the scenery shifted once again, returning him to the lake, and in the presence of the Green Ranger and the Dragon's cry again.

"-Me. Your very first set of powers. Strongest too. But Tommy, you've been through so many different sets of powers, that you can't choose just one. You must have balance within your powers. One cannot flow any stronger within you than the other. That is why all of your powers after these were either destroyed, or given up." The Green Ranger proceeded to take a few steps back. "So what you have to do now is choose. Are you the Green."

"The White," The White Tiger Ranger said walking up next to the Green.

"The Ninjetti," The White Ninjetti Ranger said as he appeared next to the White Tiger.

"Zeo Ranger V: Red," Zeo Ranger V said, descending next to the White Ninjetti.

"Red Turbo," the Red Turbo Ranger said, speeding up next to Zeo Ranger V.

"and the Black Dino Ranger, all rolled into one," the Black Dino Ranger said as he became visible "or are you-"

"ME!" shouted a very familiar, very evil voice. Tommy turned to see the Evil Green Ranger appear in a cloud of green smoke. "You this is who you really are Tommy. Evil lies deep within you, it always has. Even before Rita's spell you always had a dark nature. You just managed to suppress it thanks to Jason, Zach, Trini, Billy, and especially to Kimberly."

"You're wrong, I'm nothing like you!" Tommy shouted at the Evil Green Ranger.

The Evil Green Ranger threw his head back and laughed "Yes you are! You may not see it clearly like I do, but you are evil. Pure, indescribable evil. Now, let me out. Bring me to the surface Tommy!"

"No!" he shouted once more "I am the Green, the White Tiger, the White Ninjetti, Zeo Ranger V: Red, the Red Turbo, the Black Dino, and now I am the Green Prehistoric Ranger. All rolled into one. I'll never be evil again." With that realization in his heart, the cries and roars of the Dragon, the White Tiger, the Falcon, the Phoenix, the Car, and the Brachiosaurus all sounded at once. As Tommy stood, ready to fight his inner evil, the other six ranger forms all merged into his being. "Dragonzord Power UP!" he cried, before his morph his eyes flashed green, white, red, and black then in a multi colored flash of light he became the Green Prehistoric Ranger.

Evil Green Ranger pulled his Dragon Dagger out, and Tommy feeling the connection of all his old powers working together, summoned his Zeo Sword and began attacking. Evil Green Ranger dodged the first swing, but was unable to dodge Tommy's punch to his gut. The Evil Green Ranger caught his balance and tried throwing the Dragon Dagger at Tommy, but Tommy side-stepped and avoided it. Allowing to get stick into a tree. Furious, the Evil Green Ranger quickly ran to claim his weapon, when he pulled it out he turned, ready to face Tommy. But he was nowhere in sight. "Where are you? You coward!" he screamed.

"You looking for me?" Tommy asked, reappearing behind the Evil Green Ranger. Before the he could turn to strike Tommy, he summoned his Turbo sword to replace the Zeo Sword and blocked it with lightning fast movement. He then summoned the Brachio-staff and slammed it into the side of the Evil Green Rangers helmet, smashing half of its front to pieces.

'Well this has to count as child abuse…' Tommy joked as the Evil Green Ranger flew about five or six feet from where he was. Peering out at Tommy from the busted helmet was himself at age fourteen.

'Yeah, definitely child abuse.' He summoned Saba next.

"Greetings master, it's been a long time," Saba said to Tommy.

"Oh it certainly has, now are you ready to do this?"

"Of course." Tommy ran, then leaped up into the air and came down upon Evil Green Ranger and drove Saba into his shoulder. He stopped slicing when he felt it hit the bone. The Evil Green Ranger cried out in agony and dropped to one knee as blood gushed out of his shoulder and ran down his arm to form a pool of blood from on the ground.

"And now," Tommy said, summoning his own Dragon Dagger, "it's time to put my evil where it belongs. In the ground and out of my life forever!" he took the Dragon Dagger and drove it into Evil Green Ranger's chest, blood squirted out and he cried out in even more pain. In a flash of green lightning and the dying sound of the last of Tommy's evil, the Evil Green Ranger was gone for good.

Back at the Aqua Base…

Hayley, Jason, Ryan, and Karone were all sitting by Tommy's bed. Watching, waiting, and hoping for him to wake up soon. "We are still trying to figure out what caused the bruises and scratches on him. Even with our advanced technology we can't find any reason for _green _and _white_ bruises," Dana said as she entered the room.

"Will he be ok?" Karone asked, trying not to cry.

"We're not sure. I'm sorry I can't say more, but we just don't know how to treat this. We don't even know what this is."

"I do," Tommy said, stretching "Man it feels good to be back!"

"Tommy!" all four cried at once.

"Hey bro, you feelin' okay?" Jason asked. Tommy looked around at everyone, Jason, Hayley, Dana, Ryan, and Karone.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Thomas, what happened." Dana and Hayley both demanded.

"Well, I'm not sure, but I think I know. See, I've been having these dreams for a while now. I kept battling my old powers, Green through Black. Well, it's like this I guess; I've had more powers than any other ranger, ever. So with all the power flowing around inside me, each one of my powers, Green, White, Ninjetti, Zeo, Turbo, and Dino, kept trying to become the dormant power. That's why I have," he looked "_had_ those bruises and scratches. But then after I passed out," and he went on to explain the events that he had just been through in his mind.

"…And that about wraps it up," he finished "Can I go home now?" Dana and Hayley gave him very stern looks and said together "No!"

"Tommy," Dana said "we need to run a few more tests to be sure that you're really alright. So until further notice, you. Stay. Put."

Tommy threw a glance over to Jason, and then to Ryan who both nodded their heads and said "Come one Hayley, come on Dana. Let's give these two some privacy." After they had exited the room Karone took the seat closest to Tommy and rested her hand on his.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said.

"You weren't worried were you?" he asked with a grin.

"Of course I was you goof!" she giggled.

"Why? You should know, I'm Tommy Oliver, Dr. O, indestructible!" he said proudly joking.

"Oh really?" she said raising an eyebrow and getting a 'we'll see about that' look on her face. She smiled and slugged his arm lightly.

"Ah! Geez, just cause the bruises aren't showing doesn't mean they aren't there!" he teased.

"See? Indestructible my butt!" she smiled and kissed his cheek "I'm really glad you're okay."

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

A/N I hope everyone enjoyed the look into Tommy's past, and the fight against himself as much as I enjoyed writing it, inspiration did come from Fighting Spirit, but I modeled it differently. Thank you for reading, and leave a review please.


	11. Chapter 11

**12**

The next night Jason and Ryan decided to take Tommy out to Mariner Bay's finest bar. First they stopped by the bar and had a few beers. They then headed back to Ryan's condo, as he preferred to live away from the Aqua Base and the new Ground Base. When got back to his place Jason fell into the first seat he laid his eyes on and turned the T.V on. A John Wayne movie was playing on TMC; they decided that was good enough. Ryan brought chips and dips in for then, along with one more beer for each. The night had been going well, just three friends having the time of their lives, until Jason had to ask Tommy "So, what was that about each one of your previous powers trying to dominate the others?"

Tommy swallowed his mouthful of chips and replied "Yeah, it was weird. Before I collapsed I was fighting each of my powers every night. Then," he took a gulp of his beer "I was told that I needed balance between the six. Okay, picture this, six strings lying side by side, each of those strings are holding me up, a green, two white, two red, and a black string. One of those strings tried to hold more of me up than the others. That causes an imbalance within me. So basically, what happened was all of those strings came together as one and now hold me perfectly balanced in the center."

Ryan and Jason gave each other a look and laughed. "Dude," Ryan said, trying to keep from laughing, "I can definitely tell you're a teacher."

"Yeah," Jason added, still snickering "bro, you could've just said that each of the powers came together to keep from killing you."

"Sorry guys," Tommy said "guess I've been teaching a lot and got used to using analogies."

"S'fine man," Ryan said, going for a chip, "But hey, how about we say we're done with the Ranger talk for the night."

"Sounds good to me," Jason said "just three bro's hangin' out having a good time."

Ryan finished his beer off and said "So how're thing with Karone? Jason told me that you two have started dating."

Tommy shifted in his seat and said "Well, it's actually going pretty good so far. I mean, we're not officially together or anything yet. We're still seeing how things go."

Jason flashed a grin "Bro, it looks like a lot more than just 'seeing how things go.' She looks like she really loves you. I mean, I've never been the best in relationships or relationship advice, its kinda why I'm still single, but still. She looks crazy about you man."

Ryan knocked on Jason's head and said "I think you're still single because you're too bone-headed to know when to ask someone out" he joked.

"Oh yeah? I don't see you with anyone either." Jason retorted.

"Actually," Ryan pulled his wallet out and showed them a photo of a beautiful brunette, hair flowing over her shoulders, dark brown eyes, and a smile that was as big as Rita's hair. "Her name's Chloe, I met her on my last trip to Turtle Cove." He then went into an explanation of how it had been raining, and he had slipped in a mud puddle in front of her. She had laughed at first, and then asked him if he lived close by. When he replied no, that he was from Mariner Bay she invited him up to her apartment to clean up. After he had changed into some fresh clothes she asked him to stay, and the two began talking about their careers, and just hit it off from there.

"So she works for NASADA's Turtle Cove base? Isn't it hard, being in a long distance relationship I mean?" Jason asked, remembering how Tommy's relationship with Kim had dissolved after she left for the Pan Globals.

"Nah, my work with Lightspeed takes me up to Turtle Cove quite frequently. Since the Rangers there had to give their powers up I'm the one who gets sent up there to battle the monsters that attack."

Tommy lost track of the conversation as his own thoughts drifted back to the last time he had seen Kim. It had been just after Divatox had sacrificed her Maligore on Muranthias. It was then that Tommy had actually confronted Kim about the Dear John letter she had sent him almost a year before. The two had had a heated argument, and vowed to never speak to each other again. They both kind of resented the other for the way their meeting had gone, but they both decided it was for the best if they didn't contact each other.

His thoughts then drifted to Kat, they had broken up a couple years into college. The main reason was because he had found the DinoGems and knew he could never escape the Power. Kat, however, had said that though life as a Ranger was fun, she never wanted to go back to the lifestyle. She said she quite content with her life now her tenure as a Ranger was over. Though they tried to remain close friends, they too lost contact. Until they found one another on the moon and received the Prehistoric Powers, that is. The rest of the night went quite well after Ryan smacked Tommy out his thoughts, talking to him had done no good, nor had putting hot sauce up to his nose.

Back in Angel Grove…

Kim was packing, getting ready to visit some of her family over in Paris with her friend Felicia. She had met Felicia a few weeks after moving to Florida, and after she found out that Tommy had left Angel Grove for Reefside, she talked her into moving back to Angel Grove with her. That had been around eleven years ago. It was then that Kim had discovered a more independent Skull. Bulk leaving on Terra Venture had changed Skull for the better. Though when Bulk returned, he returned to his old self when around him; which, after seeing the real Skull, she even found his old self cute. She eventually asked him out on a date, which he quickly agreed to. After about three years of dating Skull finally found the courage to ask her to marry him.

"How long are you gonna be gone honey?" Skull asked as he watched his wife pack her things.

"About two weeks, why?" she asked, folding her blue blouse and stuffing it into her third suitcase.

"Eh, just wondering how long my party can go on," he laughed. Kim smiled, knowing he was joking. She leaned over and kissed him. "I'd offer to help you pack, but that would mean you'd leave sooner," he said.

"Oh, so sweet," she pinched his cheek and kissed him again "Two weeks apart won't kill you."

"How do you know? I could have 'you're gone I'm gonna die syndrome'!" he whined.

"Oh you'll have Bulkie to hang out with,"

"Yeah, I guess." A few minutes later Kim was all packed and ready to go. "Do you really need all these clothes?" he pointed to her four suitcases.

"Of course, I'm going to Paris silly. The fashion capitol of the world!" Skull just sighed and carried her luggage to the car.

Kat was lying in her bed asleep when she began to stir. She awoke to find that she inside Angel Grove High "What? Why does this place look like it hasn't changed since the Nineties? What? How did I get here anyway?!"she asked. She wandered the halls of her old school, this is where she had met the Rangers; Tommy, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Kimberly, and Billy. She walked past Mrs. Applebee's classroom and peeked inside, it was empty. "What's going on here?" A familiar laugh sounded from behind her, "I recognize that screeching!"

she turned to face who it was behind her. When she looked she was face to face with the evil witch, Rita Repulsa!

Kat stared in awe, how could Rita be here? Her evil side was locked up in the Shadow World, and her good side had become the Mystic Mother. 'What in the world is going on?' she asked herself.

"Confused? Don't be my little Kitty-Kat!" Rita's horrible screech of a laugh came bellowing out of her mouth.

"How are you here? What do you want?" Kat demanded.

"I'm here to test you, Kitty-Kat." Rita said as she quickly composed herself.

"Test me? Wha-?"

"Yes, test you. To see if you are worthy of that little blue gem's power you posses."

Kat stared down at her wrist, her morpher was gone. She flicked her wrist to see if it was like her Zeonizer, nothing. "What?" she flicked it again. Still nothing.

"Oh, poor Kitty. Can't find your morpher? That's because," Rita's head spun around once it quit the Blue Prehistoric Ranger's helmet replaced it "you have to face _me _alone. No powers, nothing. This is a test of your mental strength. If you are deemed worthy," the helmet rasped "then you get to keep your Powers. If not, then you lose them forever and the gem will choose another."

Kat shouted in reply "Then fail me now, I don't want the Powers. I swore to stay away from the life of a Ranger! It was fun and all, but I want to live my life my way now!"

"Still," the helmet rasped as it began to spin "you have to take the test! Now!" Rita screeched in laughter as she began probing Kat's mind with her magic. "You're an evil girl, an evil girl. Remember all the evil you did for me? Nearly killing Kimberly, you were such a bad girl." Rita reminded Kat of all the horrible things she did while under her power.

"No," Kat begged "no, no. I buried all that, I put it to rest. I'm good, not evil! Good!"

Rita smiled and said "You will serve me once more Kitty-Kat. You know you want too!" She began chanting a spell to turn Kat back to the way she was while in Rita and Zedd's service. After a few minutes of chanting Kat's eyes flashed blue and she said "Yes, I am evil aren't I?"

She began taking slow steps towards Rita; as soon as she was within striking distance she raised her foot and kicked Rita in the stomach as hard as she could "I told you, I'm good! Not evil!"

Rita picked herself up off the ground. When she was steady again the image of Rita melted away to reveal to Kat the Blue Prehistoric Ranger suit. "I know you are good. I saw the flash of blue in your eyes that meant you had completely bonded with my power. I'm sorry Kat, my power is now yours. It can no longer be transferred to another. You can still leave the team though. If you wish."

Kat stared down at her wrist and watched her morpher appear, followed by the head of Megalodon Shark appear over it. "There has to be some way to transfer the Power to another," Kat said, disappointed.

"There is, but it would require your death, Katherine." The Suit said.

"But…But what about the sword of light? Wouldn't that work? Tommy told me it transferred the Powers from Jason, Zach, and Trini over Rocky, Adam, and Aisha."

The Suit shook its head "The Sword doesn't transfer Power. It copies it. That is why your friend Jason still retains the last little bit of the Original Red Ranger Power. You could, if you really want to, choose that path. But remember, the Power would still be with you as well."

Kat took that in and thought about it for a while. "I don't know what to do," she said at last "I mean…" she thought for a short while longer. "Alright," she said with full confidence in her voice "I've made up my mind. I want-"

Back at Ryan's condo it was getting to be almost four in the morning, the guys had swapped stories of different Ranger battles they had been in. This lead to Tommy and Jason bashing each other quite a bit about who did the work in what battle. "I was out there fighting the monsters that attacked while he was off hitting on Kim and after I returned from the Peace Conference, I saw that nothing had changed 'cause he was then hitting on Kat at the Juice Bar." Jason joked "I mean can you believe this guy? I'm out there fighting for the city and he's off trying to get a date for prom!"

Tommy laughed and retorted with "Oh yeah? Well what about you and Emily? I remember you did your fair share of flirting too. While I was out fighting for city. See what a hypocrite this guy is?" Tommy asked raising his eyebrows to Ryan and pointing at Jason.

"Okay, whoa," Jason said, placing his hands out as if he was blocking a punch, "I know I did my fair share of flirting, and you did too. But youknow who else flirted more than the both of us?"

"Zach," Tommy agreed "Man he never gave up on Angela. Not even after she dumped popcorn all over him. How's he doing anyway?"

Jason set his bottle down and said "Last I heard he had opened a dance school of some sort. He seems to be doing pretty good for himself. I haven't talked to him in about six months though."

"Oh, well, we should contact him soon." Tommy said "Hey Ryan, tell us a bit about the stuff that happens around the Aqua Base.

Ryan sat up and cleared his throat; he'd been having a great time just listening to their stories and hadn't even thought of any of his own. "Well," he began "Joel was always hitting on Dr. Fairweather; she finally caved after Queen Bansheera's defeat. Your friend Zach actually sounds a lot like him, just Joel doesn't dance like he does. Um… oh! There was the time Joel took Carter's Jeep out mudslinging, Carter was furious and would've pounded the sh** out of Joel if he could've caught him. Annoying Carter is something Joel is an expert at. You'd have to ask Chad, Dana, Kelsey, or Joel about some of the stuff he does to annoy him. I'm never really there anymore. Sorry, I don't have to say."

"It's alright man," Tommy said "Hey, have you told you about the 'Misadventures of Bulk and Skull'?" Ryan shook his head.

"Oh man, there is like, what? Six years worth of stories there?" Jason asked, Tommy nodded, "I can tell you like two years worth," Jason chuckled. "Would you believe they once thought I was the original Berble Baby?" he laughed.

"Yeah and for about a year they tried to find out who the Power Rangers were. They're curiosity almost lead them to releasing Rita Repulsa at one point. Though, she was released later anyway." Tommy continued "Our Junior Year of high school they joined the Angel Grove Junior Police Patrol. I have to say, I thought the goofs had pulled a one-eighty on us. But we soon found out that it was to try to impress girls. Man did they fail miserably in that department. They even got Lt. Stone fired from the force."

Ryan just laughed as his friends went on to tell him about the two school bullies turned cops, detectives, etc. They talked until they saw the sun rising. "We'd better be getting back to Reefside," Jason said as he yawned and stretched.

"Yeah, hey we should get together like this again. Maybe invite Zach, Carter, and some of the other guys over next time," Tommy said.

"Sounds great. Just stop by next time you're in Mariner Bay," Ryan said as he walked his guests to the door.

"See ya man," Tommy threw his hand up in a wave, Jason followed. They then called Hayley and Karone to come pick them up to head back.

* * *

A/N: I'll be honest, this wasn't my favorite chapter. I felt like I could have done more with Kat, or done something else. But, oh well. I decided on a mental test since she was able to break Rita's spell herself in MMPR. And yes, each of the Rangers will have some sort of test done at some point. Thank you for reading, please review.


	12. Chapter 12

**13**

The palace was quiet; Golver was recuperating from his battle with Tommy and Jason. 'Curse those two…' he thought, breathing labored '…and curse Goldar for leaving me with the damage…if…if I could…I'd…' his thought trailed off as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Trixabus was fast asleep sitting in his throne. Yelling, screaming, and beating on Rito had taken its toll on him. He was unable to fight for very long, though he was very powerful he was also easily tired. His condition made him so. Touching the Zeo Crystal centuries ago along with his younger brother, Zedd, had withered their flesh away and both had to, in order to survive, have and exoskeleton build onto their bodies. Trixabus had learned years before that the only source in the universe able to reverse the Zeo Crystals effects on him was the Seven Prehistoric Gems. But, he also learned that if he touched the sword that five of the gems had subsequently been changed into that his condition would worsen to a point where he wouldn't even be able to work. So he waited patiently over the centuries for someone good to remove the sword. Finally, it had happened and his attack on Earth began.

Rito was sleeping outside the palace, supposedly on guard duty. Trixabus had assigned Rito to guard the palace should anyone try to enter, but Rito being the goof that he is, fell asleep. As he slept peacefully two robed figures entered the palace unnoticed. They silently crept up the palace, walking past Golver's quarters very, very carefully, until finally they reached the throne room where Trixabus was sleeping.

"Look at him, sister," one the figures said.

"Yes," the other agreed "sleeping like a baby. Is this really the great Lord Trixabus we heard had escaped from the forgotten dimension in which he was imprisoned? He doesn't look like much, does he brother?"

The first figured slumped a little and said "No, he sure doesn't. But," he stood straight again "it must be him, look at the 'T' on his head and his staff." The first figure removed his cloak to reveal a young boy, maybe in his early to mid twenties. His black hair hung down to the bottom of his ears on the sides and to his neck in the back, he wore a red jacket that stopped just below his knees, a black t-shirt, and red pants.

"Maybe it's time we kick the old people off the throne and take it for ourselves. What do you say, sister?" he said.

"Sounds like a brilliant plan. This decrepit old fool is nothing compared to us, we may be twenty-thousand years younger than he is, but that doesn't make us any less powerful!" she proceeded to remove her cloak and reveal an young girl, again early to mid twenties in looks. Her long, pink hair flowed over shoulders and down her back, her pale skin shone brightly in the darkness. She wore a pink T-shirt that revealed her midriff with a short, black leather jacket that stopped just above her stomach, a black leather skirt that stopped just above her knees with pink stockings going down into her boots which stopped just above her ankles.

"Sister, what should we do with him?" the boy asked. His sister thought for a moment then said "Maybe throw him into the pit of eternal torment?"

"No, he'd enjoy that too much…" he replied sadly. Before she could throw out any more suggestions Trixabus awoke and startled them.

"Who are you?!" he demanded, shouting as loud as he could "Rito! Get your sniveling a$$ in here!!!" He took his T-staff and aimed in at the boy "Speak. Who are you and what do you want?"

The boy shot a glance over to his sister who nodded in reply. "I am called Zokk; I am from the planet Inquiris. This is my sister, Alia. We have come to throw you off of your throne and take over," he said innocently.

Trixabus laughed "You? Dethrone me? What a laugh! Rito! Get in here!"

Alia giggled and said "If Rito is the big walking skeleton outside, we put a sleeping spell on him. Even though he was already asleep."

Zokk then jumped to attack Trixabus, who quickly aimed his staff up and fired a bolt of electricity at Zokk. He fell to the floor in pain, but got up and continued his assault by shooting a lizard-like tongue out of his mouth as wrapping it around Trixabus' neck. This, however, was a mistake as Trixabus fired another lightning bolt and his Zokk' tongue.

"You see, you cannot defeat me. Now, either serve me as my newest generals, or die." Trixabus had Zokk against the wall, looking directly into his face with his staff at his throat.

"I will…never…serve under…you!" Zokk managed between gulps of air and a burned tongue.

"Very well then," Trixabus said as he backed up a feet "It's a shame really. You would have made one hell of a general. Oh well." Trixabus lifted his staff and held it straight out in front of his. Suddenly a lightning storm erupted from the tip of it and where Zokk had stood was now just a human shaped black smear on the wall. "What about you, Pinky?" he said, shifting his focus onto Alia.

Barely, and through sobs at the loss of her brother Alia agreed to serve him.

"Good girl," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder "If you do a good job and get me what I want, I may even see about bringing that weakling back for you." She looked up at his face to see if he was lying, but she had forgotten that his face looked like Zedd's and showed no emotion. Quietly, she nodded her head.

Back in Mariner Bay, the same night as Tommy's night out…

Hayley and Dana had decided since the guys were taking Tommy on a guy's night out, that they would take Karone on a girl's night out. The trio went to the twenty-four hour mall in the middle of the city and each girl came back with two armfuls of bags. Karone had decided to wear one outfit as soon as she got it; it was a low cut long-sleeve purple shirt with, a pair of tight, black jeans, and her normal leather boots. She had also bought an outfit specifically for her next date with Tommy. It was pair of white jeans, a purple strapless shirt, and black denim jacket that stopped halfway down her torso.

"I think he'll love it on you," Dana had said when Karone asked her about it.

"You think so?" she had asked "I mean, I think things are really getting serious between us, but I don't know if he feels that way or not."

"I think he does," Hayley said "otherwise Jason and Ryan wouldn't have escorted us out of the room yesterday after just a look."

"Yeah," Dana said, scrunching her eyes and looking at Hayley, "since when are the three of them such good friends anyway?"

Hayley thought about it for a moment trying to remember when they had met. "It was Tommy's second year teaching at Reefside High, he was asked to attend a meeting in Mariner Bay and he noticed a silver clad Ranger in trouble with a monster. He tried accessing his Black Dino Powers to help him, and he nearly died doing so. Similar to what Jason did the other week. After Ryan helped him back to the Ground Base the two formed a friendship. They've been bro's like Tommy and Jason ever since." Karone frowned at the thought of Tommy always nearly dying. But she shook the thought away saying to herself 'He won't do anything like that while he's in a relationship I'm sure.'

After the mall the girls went back to Dana's place, as she too preferred to live off of the base but nearby just in case. She poured some wine for them and they stayed up half the night talking about their past relationships. Dana talked about her boyfriends before meeting her husband, Carter. Hayley talked about her both of her past boyfriends, and Karone talked about her brief fling with Leo, and about some guy she had met on Mirinoi. They decided to turn in at about three a.m as Hayley had said "Knowing the boys, they'll be up all night. I bet you." Karone did bet her, twenty bucks that they had passed out.

That morning at about eight Tommy called Hayley for a ride. "You owe me twenty bucks," she said to Karone who cursed under her breath.

When they arrived at Ryan's; Karone punched Tommy on the arm and said jokingly "Jerk, you made me lose twenty bucks!" Tommy asked how he had done that and Karone replied "By not resting that pretty little head of yours!"

"Sorry," Tommy said with a smile spreading across his face.

"Hey, I don't mean to pry," Jason said, sounding a little groggy, "but have either of you told Andros yet?" Tommy and Karone just looked at each other and wondered how they could have forgotten to tell him before he left with Leo.

"Um, no…" Karone squeaked.

"Well you better tell him the next ti-" Jason's voice was cut off by his own snoring as he passed out in the front seat of Hayley's SUV.

A/N: What does everyone think of Zokk and Alia? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading and please review.


	13. Chapter 13

**14**

Ashley, Karone, and Tommy had all gathered to welcome Andros back to Earth. Andros had contacted all the Rangers the day before to say he'd be home. Kat had said she was unable to come due to work, and Jason and Hayley couldn't find anyone to run the Cyber Café. So it was just the three of them. Ashley had been waiting for this day for about a week. Luckily Trixabus hadn't attacked, which Tommy thought was a little strange as attacks used to come on a daily basis back in the old days.

Ashley looked up at the sky just waiting to see the ship enter the atmosphere and land her Andros home safely. As she waited she thought back to how she met Andros.

Ashley, Carlos, Cassie, and T.J. had followed their nemesis, Divatox, into space. Though Divatox had destroyed their powers, they still chose to fight and save Zordon. Somewhere along the way they came across the Astro Megaship and were pulled in by a tractor beam. After touring the ship themselves they ran into a Red Ranger. Though they had tried to be nice and talk to him, he ran.

It was then that Astronema began attacking the ship, severing one of the engines cords. After the four former Turbo Rangers saved the ship and helped the Red Ranger defeat the army of Quantrons Astronema had sent to the planet below he revealed himself to them.

After Ashley examined him head to toe thinking 'My God he's gorgeous!' and said "You're…human." He explained that his name was Andros and that he was from the space colony KO-35. Andros then left to repair the Rangers shuttle so that they could go back to Earth. The Turbo's followed and Cassie teased "'you're…human!'"

Ashley laughed and replied "Well I didn't know! He could've been a giant lizard!"

Ashley smiled and thought to herself 'Good times… Oh I hope he's alright…' She fiddled with the engagement ring Andros had used to propose with. It was a normal diamond ring, but what made it extra special to her was that it wasn't any diamond from Earth. Andros had travelled all the way back to KO-35 to get a diamond from his former home for her. Andros had taken the expression "I'd travel the galaxy for you" to the extreme. He _had _traversed the galaxy for her. 'It what makes him, well, him' she thought, her smile growing wider.

"Hey," Tommy said, making Ashley jump.

"Damn it all Thomas!" Ashley screeched "Don't scare me like that!"

Tommy looked over at Karone; she was biting her lower lip trying not to smile. "I was just gonna ask what was on your mind. Didn't mean to scare you," he grinned sheepishly.

"I was just thinking about how I first met Andros," she replied, trying to catch her breath.

Tommy's mind began to drift back to when he had first met the Red Space Ranger. It had been a few days after Zordon's death. Tommy had heard a rumor of four Angel Grove seniors exposing themselves as Power Rangers. He returned to Angel Grove to speak with T.J on the matter. Instead of T.J. though he ran into Andros who kindly explained the situation to him; Andros then began to apologize for killing Zordon, but insisted that Zordon had ordered him to.

Tommy raised his hand up to stop Andros and said "You killed Zordon?"

"Yes, and I regret doing it. I feel as though I could've found another way to save everyone."

Tommy placed his hand on Andros' shoulder and calmly said "Look, you saved the universe. Peace is never obtained easy, Andros. You did the right thing."

"It doesn't feel like I did…" Andros replied, staring off to the side.

Tommy sighed and said "Look, I would have done the same thing if I had been in your shoes. It wouldn't have been easy, but I would have done it."

Andros then heard a woman scream, his head quickly turned in the direction of the scream, as did Tommy's. Andros was the first to act though, he quickly ran over to where the woman was trying to fight off her attacker. Without saying a word he quickly knocked the guy out and told the woman to call the police.

"You're Andros," the woman said "you're the Red Ranger!"

Andros nodded and repeated "Ma'am, call the police."

Tommy watched how quickly Andros had sprung into action and how skilled the young Ranger was. 'I should recruit him…' he thought. He casually walked up to the two and introduced himself as Tommy Oliver. He pulled Andros over to the side and asked him "Andros, how would like to do a reconnaissance mission for me?"

"Uh, sure. What do you need?" Andros answered almost immediately.

"Well, just because the Machine Empire is gone doesn't mean that who or whatever made them is. I want you to keep an eye on any remnants of the Empire and keep me posted."

"Why me?" Andros asked.

"Well, a couple of reasons. One is that you know space better than anyone else. Two is that you're also a very decent fighter as you've just shown me."

After the two sat and went over all the details of the mission. About how Rita and Zedd had tried one final assault on Earth before being defeated by the Zeo Rangers and sent back to Master Vile.

"Now," Tommy said as he sipped his Pepsi "I'm not sure if they returned in Serpentera or not, but I'd like you to keep an eye on their old palace too. Keep me posted on the details." Andros agreed to the mission and around four years later all the work Andros had done paid off as the Machine Empire began unearthing Serpentera to avenge King Mondo, and all the former, and the current, Red Rangers teamed up.

Tommy was brought back to the present by Karone squeezing his hand and shouting "Look! Look! There he is!" Tommy looked up and saw a small black silhouette in headed for them. Ashley looked back at the two and her eyes fell to their hands.

'They're holding hands?' she asked herself 'Are they together or something?'

"So," Ashley said, placing her hands on her hips "when were you planning on telling everyone?"

'Uh-oh' was the thought that ran through both of their heads as they realized they were holding hands. "Well," Karone began "Jason and Hayley know…but that's it. We were waiting till Andros returned to tell everyone else…"

Ashley stamped her foot and said "I can't believe you didn't tell me already! I mean, Karone, we've been friends for what? Twelve years now?"

Tommy tried to keep from snickering at how worked up Ashley was getting, even though he knew she was hiding something bigger.

"And you," she glared at Tommy "I've known you for even longer and _you_ couldn't tell me?"

Tommy sighed and returned Ashley's glare "Well what about you?" he asked "You've been hiding something much bigger." He pointed to her pocket.

"How did you know?" she asked, grasping her pocket.

"I've been a Ranger a lot longer than you have, and I have a keen eye for observation. I saw you fiddling with that ring in your pocket earlier."

Karone gasped and threw her hands over her mouth "Oh my God!" she squealed "You and Andros are engaged! That is so sweet!"

"We were planning on telling everyone, but then the whole Trixabus thing started and we just didn't feel like it was the right time."

"It's understandable," Tommy assured her "I just wanted to know why you kept it a secret."

A few minutes later the Astro Megaship Mk II had made its landing and Andros walked out of the ship. Ashley was the first to greet him, running up and hugging him so hard he thought his spine snapped, she then proceeded to kiss him very passionately. Next was Karone who ran up and hugged him even tighter than Ashley had. Tommy simply patted his shoulder and said "Congrats on the engagement man."

Tommy then began to explain how he knew about the engagement and how he had forced Ashley to spill. "Andros," Ashley said, smiling "these two have something they'd like to share with you too."

Andros glanced over to Tommy, then to Karone, waiting on one of them to start. "Well," Tommy began "you see, that is, we…"

"We've been dating for about a week now, and we think that it's going really well and could turn into a really wonderful relationship!" Karone quickly blurted out, covering her mouth afterwards with a tiny, squeaky "oops…" following.

Andros stood in silence for a moment, trying to process his sister's gibberish into actual words. Once made sense of it he smiled and said "That's great!" It was Karone's turn to stand in silence. She had expected a more surprised expression from her brother, but here he stood acting as if he knew all along that it was going to happen.

"You aren't mad? Or surprised?" she asked once she was able to form words.

His eyebrow rose and he answered "No, why would I be? I mean, you're an adult, even if you do still act like a kid. But even so, you're allowed to make your own choices. Plus I whole-heartedly approve of Tommy." He smiled and nodded to Tommy.

"Well," Karone said "That's a relie-" her words were cut off by her passing out. Tommy quickly caught her and picked her up.

"What's wrong with her?" Ashley asked.

"She may have been more terrified of his reaction than I thought," Tommy replied "Andros, lead the way to the bunks in the ship. We need to set her down until she wakes." Andros nodded and the three went inside the ship to take care of Karone.

Karone awoke within the Dark Fortress, her old ship. 'What am I doing here?' she wondered 'I thought we tore this ship apart and sold it for scrap…' She walked past her old bedroom, remembering every inch of the ship as if she had been here yesterday. The place still smelled the same, like scrap metal from the Quantrons armor. She found her way to the bridge, it was a dark room with the walls designed to look like space and it had solar system design in the background. She spotted something shiny over in the far corner. Slowly, carefully she approached the object. When she finally stood before it she examined it; it was a staff with a giant diamond shape on the top. It was Astronema's Wrath Staff.

Karone picked the staff up from where it was leaning against the wall and she felt the power from it flow through her. "What am I doing here?" she asked herself.

"You are here," said a voice from the shadows "to take your revenge on me for ruining your life." Darkonda emerged from the shadows and explained to Karone that in order to gain full access to her new powers she needs to strike him down with the Wrath Staff. "What do you say?" he said, spreading his arms out wide "Shall we battle?"

Karone jumped in the air and kicked Darkonda square in the face and chest. He stumbled back a few feet, grabbing his face. Blood oozed between his fingers as she shouted "You broke my nose!" But Karone didn't care, this was the monster that had kidnapped her as a child, where was eventually put in Ecliptor's care and brought up as a ruthless warrior, killing anyone who didn't pledge allegiance to Dark Specter or herself. She was now given a chance for revenge.

Quickly she ran up to him and punched him once, twice, three times in his stomach. His chains rattled as he fell to his knees. "Aren't you going to fight back?" she demanded. Darkonda laughed and pulled a blaster from its holster and shot her shoulder with it. She cried out in pain and shot a bolt of lightning from her staff, zapping him in his stomach.

Karone felt herself becoming heavier, then lighter, then heavier again. She looked down to see Astronema's battle armor and long, black wig appearing, disappearing, and appearing once more. "What's going on?" she shouted at Darkonda.

"You," he wheezed "you are becoming Astronema once more!" he tried laughing, but the pain he felt in his gut from the lightning stung too bad.

"If that's what it takes to be rid of you once and for all…" she walked up to Darkonda, stomping her thick soled boot down on his chest so hard she heard his ribs snap.

"Do it," he urged "do it and claim your full power! Become Astronema once more! You are, after all, the Queen of Evil. The only person to…" he grunted as she applied pressure to his chest and said "Shut up!"

"…the…only person….to conquer…the….ahhh!" she stomped down again "universe!" Astronema then realized what she was doing as she held the staff's point to his throat. 'I can't…' she thought. She removed her foot from his chest and snapped the staff over her knees.

"I can't do it. I would rather lose all my Ranger powers than become Astronema again." The armor and the wig then vanished again and Darkonda stood up.

"Alpha, will she be alright?" Andros asked, stroking his sister's hair as she lay sleeping.

"Ay yi yi yi, I'm not sure Andros. The scanners say that her brainwaves are on overdrive, but other than that she's perfectly healthy!" Andros thought for a moment and remembered that D.E.C.A had said he was in a similar state a few days ago. 'Could her power be testing her?' he wondered 'It's possible…'

"Alpha," he said, standing up "she's fine. Just, let her wake up on her own." Andros looked down at his motionless sister and thought "I hope to all the deities in the universe that I'm right and she snaps out of it…'

Darkonda rose from the floor and his skin began to crawl, literally. Karone made an 'ew' noise and took a step back. "Don't be frightened," he said, his voice becoming distorted and more feminine. After a few minutes the skin of Darkonda had changed into the Purple Prehistoric Ranger.

"What's going on?" she asked, taking another step back. Though she had seen many, many weird and crazy stuff throughout her years as Astronema, she had never seen anything like this.

"I told you, if you were to pass the challenge, then you were to be rewarded with my full power." The suit took a step towards her just as Karone took another step back.

"But I was told I had to strike him down, and I refused," she insisted.

"That too was a test. One which you almost failed. If you had struck Darkonda down then you would have proved to everyone that you are truly Astronema at heart. But since you snapped the staff and refused to take revenge you proved to be Karone at heart. You passed. Now you may access my power at any time."

Suddenly and without warning Karone shot up and her head collided with Tommy's, who hadn't left her bedside in hours. "Ow, son of a bitch!" she cried "Tommy what the hell is your head made of? Steele?" her hands held her forehead and she pouted, poking her lower lip out. Tommy, who was holding his own head and asking pretty much the same question about her head, bent down and kissed her forehead.

"Hey beautiful," he said, hugging her after she stood up and gained her balance.

"Hey yourself," she smiled, leaned up and kissed him. Someone cleared their throat behind them. They turned to see Andros and Ashley smiling, Ashley was now wearing her engagement ring, Tommy noticed.

"Mind if I give my sister a hug?" he joked. Tommy stood aside so that Andros and Ashley could give Karone a hug. "Karone," Andros said firmly "Tommy and I need to speak with you later." Karone just nodded, she assumed it had to do with her dream.

'Maybe they had similar experiences?' she questioned 'I'm sure that's it.' After everyone left the room she looked down at her morpher, it now had a purple raptor head over it.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so Karone hasn't completely buried Astronema yet, will she make another appearance as Astronema? That depends on if you want her to or not, leave a review please, and thank you for reading!!


	14. Chapter 14

**15**

Tommy had put the pink gem in a new safe in his basement, when he asked Jason where the white one was he replied "I think its better we keep those two separated, to keep another explosion from happening." Tommy had needed a little convincing, but eventually agreed it was for the best. Jason had been relieved, after all, he didn't want to be the one to tell Tommy that Hayley actually had the white gem and was the new White Ranger. 'He won't take that so well…' he thought to himself as he rode his Harley back to his apartment.

When he reached his fourth story apartment room he unlocked the door and said to himself "Man it's good to be home. Work at the Café was brutal. I know I offered to help Hayley manage it, but I didn't know this is what I was in store for!" He walked over to the fridge and popped the tab on a beer can "I'd rather fight Lord Zedd with no powers than have to deal with customers all day long…" he grumbled. After he cooked himself a pizza he sat in front of his T.V and turned in on to see what was on. "Nothing." He switched it off.

'Man,' he thought 'this whole business with Hayley is really screwing with me. I mean, I'm glad she can do more than just sit at a computer and help, she can actually be a part of the action now. But,' he finished his beer 'I also don't want her to get hurt…'

Hayley had stayed after to check everything in the café, she had insisted that Jason go home. He hadn't hesitated leaving either. She looked around and saw that she was almost through, just a few tables left to sweep under and then mop and she'd be free. She grabbed the broom and dustpan and began sweeping.

'It was sweet of Jason to offer to help me manage this place, even though I can tell he hates it. So why is he?' suddenly it dawned on her, Jason had offered to help her manage the place because he had a crush on her! "Oh no…" she said, mindlessly sweeping.

'I've been making a big fuss about Tommy and Karone ever since I found out…and I couldn't see that Jason likes me?' Hayley swept and mopped the store as if she were a zombie.

As she was locking up for the night she saw something out of the corner of her eye, she turned to see what it was, but there was nothing there. 'Must be my imagination' she mused. Though the whole way home she felt as though she were being watched.

When she was just outside her apartment building she saw two figures move out of the corner of her eye. "Okay, I definitely saw something that time." She turned and slowly walked to where she had seen the figures. When she rounded the corner into an alley she saw a group of strange looking creatures. They looked like Lord Zedd's old Puttie Patrollers, except they were black with crimson eyes and looked…transparent?

When one of them noticed her looking at them the others turned and saw her and began their assault. Hayley quickly tried punching and kicking them, but her blows just went right through them. Their blows, however, made perfect contact. Hayley spent the better part of five minutes getting tossed around like a rag doll; until finally she revealed her morpher and shouted "White Ranger Stegosaurus Power UP!"

The flash of white was even brighter in the dark alley. Hayley had been replaced by the White Prehistoric Ranger. She summoned her throwing needles and began shooting them at the creatures to no avail. She continued to fight a losing battle until a green clad warrior descended from the sky. It was the Green Prehistoric Ranger!

Tommy began beating on the creatures while Hayley watched. "Jason," Tommy said "the key to fighting these creatures is to wait for them to touch you, then-" he knocked a head off of one of them "-hit their head and knock it off. It has to be precise, directly in the center or it won't work."

'He thinks I'm Jason?' Hayley smiled underneath her helmet 'Oh man is he in for a surprise.' She began doing as he said and waiting for them to touch her, then she would kick or punch them in the head. 'Why didn't I think of this?'

After all the creatures were gone Tommy de-morphed to reveal a huge bump on his head. "Tommy! Oh my God! What happened to you?" Hayley shouted as she powered down "Are you okay?"

Tommy jumped when he saw Hayley's face in the pale streetlight, 'What is she doing with the white gem and a white morpher?' he wondered 'Did the gem? Of course, it had to. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to use it!'

"Hayley," he said, ignoring her questions "how long have you known the gem was meant for you?" Hayley looked at him and flicked his bump. "Ow! Shit that hurt!" he cried as he placed a hand over his bump. "It happened when Karone accidentally head-butted me while waking up. Okay? Now spill."

Hayley sighed "I've known since just before we saved Leo…"

"Hayley, that was around a week ago! Why didn't you say anything?" Tommy asked, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"I did." Tommy looked puzzled. "Just not to you or anyone other than Cam and Jason."

"Cam and Jason?" Tommy asked, though he knew why she turned to them, Cam to help build a morpher and Jason to get the gem from. So instead he asked "Why not me and the other Rangers?"

"Because I was afraid you'd make me try to turn in my morpher or tell me it was too dangerous."

Tommy grinned "Would it have stopped you if I did?"

"No." she said flatly "Now, are you gonna tell me what those…things were?"

Tommy sighed, "Always to the point, aren't you? Fine, they're called fantomites. They're the creation of Trixabus, his own personal non-living army. As I said before, the only way to inflict any sort of damage to them is to let them grab you first. I don't why that is, but it is."

Tommy finished filling Hayley in on everything he knew about Trixabus and his army. Tommy had told her to meet at his place in the morning, and that the others would be there as well. Afterwards he headed back home and Hayley went upstairs.

Meanwhile within the moon palace Alia was working hard in Finster's old shop. 'His power must lie in his staff. If I can procure the staff then I can bring Zokk back, but first I make him believe I'm actually serving him. I need to bide my time. I'll bring you back brother, I promise!'

"Alia! Golver! Rito!" Trixabus bellowed. All three came scampering into the throne room like mice. "Golver, I want you and Alia to go down to Earth, and capture me one of the Rangers. I don't care who, I don't even care if he's a former Ranger. But someone who those pathetic Power Punks will come to save!"

"But master," Golver growled "don't you remember what happened last time we had a Ranger?"

Trixabus slammed the end of his staff on the floor and shouted "Of course I know you fool! But this time we'll keep the Ranger here and force them to come to us! Then six of the seven gems will be mine! Rito, while they are doing that you are to go to Dr. Oliver's house and get the seventh gem! Do you understand?"

"Yes, master," Golver and Alia said.

"Of course I understand, Trixy. What do you think I am, an idiot?" Rito said.

"It's Trixabus! T-R-I-X-A-B-U-S! Lord Trixabus!"

Meanwhile in Reefside…

The safe in Tommy's basement began to glow a dark pink color. A bang-bang sound could be heard as the gem bounced around in the safe, after three hours of banging the same spot the gem finally shot through the safe and out of the house, the only trace of its escape was the hole in the safe.

The gem flew across Reefside, leaving people in awe of the trail it left behind, it then made its way for Blue Bay Harbor, Mariner Bay, Turtle Cove, Angel Grove, and so on. Eventually the gem hit the morpher of the Ranger it was looking for…

* * *

A/N: So what did everyone think? Who did the gem pick? Review please, thank you for reading!!


	15. Chapter 15

**16**

The journey back to Earth had been a long one for him; he had to readjust to Earth's atmosphere and gravity. He had only visited the planet once or twice before, the first time was while Divatox was trying to take over, the next time had been just after the United Alliance of Evil's defeat. He had found the new team of Rangers once, though they were too busy in a fight for him to warn them. He helped them out, though as far as he knew they didn't know it. Before he could reveal himself and speak with the Ranger known as Tommy though, they had disappeared. 'I have to find them again and warn them of the coming danger…' the Phantom Ranger thought as he walked through the streets of Mariner Bay, his boots thumping on the cement, gaining the attention of people who could hear him, but not see him.

His thumping came to a stop when he reached the outside of the Lightspeed Guardian's Ground Base; he pushed the red button that would enable to communicate with Mr. Collins. "Collins," came a sort of gruff voice over the intercom.

"Hello, I need to speak with you, preferably in person," The Phantom Ranger said politely.

"Who is this?" Mr. Collins asked.

"My name is Zejtar, but Earth's records have labeled me 'The Phantom Ranger'."

Mr. Collins couldn't believe it, he'd heard the tales of the Phantom Ranger, the Ranger from Eltar who had helped aid the Turbo Ranger's against Divatox and later against Dark Specter's army. But to have him here in person was incredible. "Come on in. My office is on the top floor." The Phantom Ranger, now revealed to be called Zejtar, entered the Ground Base and turned off his cloaking mechanism. His boots echoed on the linoleum floor as he made his way for the elevator. The Lightspeed associates stared in awe at him. He was decked out in the same black armor suit he had worn all those years ago.

Mr. Collins sat up in his chair, eagerly awaiting his guest to arrive. He made sure his desk was arranged neatly and tried to make the room look welcoming for his guest. A few minutes later Zejtar entered his office. "Have a seat," Mr. Collins gestured to the brown leather chain in front of his desk. Zejtar obliged and sat down. "So," Mr. Collins began "what brings you here to Lightspeed?"

Zejtar leaned forward a bit and said "I need to know the location of the Prehistoric Ranger's base. I was hoping you could tell me where that is."

Mr. Collins let out a sigh "I'm sorry. But Dr. Oliver hasn't disclosed that information with anyone. He's kept that between himself and his team."

"Oh," Zejtar sounded more than a little disappointed 'I need to find them! They have no idea that Trixabus is just the tip of the iceberg…'

"I can tell you the city in which you are most likely to find Dr. Oliver, Reefside. You might find him there. I hear he does a lot of travelling these days though."

"Thank you. That's narrow's my search down greatly, thank you for your time" Zejtar stood and after a quick handshake, left the office.

Ryan had secretly been listening in on the conversation, he'd come to ask Mr. Collins to send him to Turtle Cove so he could visit Chloe, but stopped when he saw the Phantom Ranger in the office. 'I wonder what he needs to talk to Tommy about. Can't be good.' Ryan decided he could talk to Mr. Collins later and instead ran after the Phantom Ranger.

"Hey!" he called "Hey, wait up!" when he caught up to him he said "I can help find Tommy, take you straight to his house."

"Alright, thank you." Zejtar said politely. Ryan just nodded and motioned for Zejtar to follow him to the garage.

Back in Reefside Tommy had called a team meeting for the Prehistoric's. They met in his living room that day instead of the basement because Tommy didn't want anyone to know right away that the gem was missing. He had planned on revealing that piece of information a little later in the meeting.

"In case none of you noticed," he started "we have found our White Ranger; Hayley." Hayley held her arm up and revealed her morpher; it looked the same as Ashley's at the moment, except white. Andros, Tommy, Karone, and Kat all kept their morphers hidden beneath their sleeves. They all knew that it wasn't their place to tell Ashley and Hayley about the trial they'd eventually have to go through. It was especially hard for Andros not to tell Ashley, he cared for her deeply and wanted her to pass her trial so that they could continue to serve as Rangers together.

"Karone," he continued "I want you to train Hayley as best you can. Ashley, Kat, you help her out if needed." The three girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"Tommy," Ashley said "don't you have a more personal announcement to make?" Tommy felt himself blush a little.

"Well, most of you know this already, but Karone and I have started dating. Andros has said that he's okay with it, so we've decided to make it official now. Does anyone else have anything they need to tell the group?" he looked at Andros, then Kat. Jason snickered over in the corner, he knew what Tommy meant. He and Tommy both knew that Andros was engaged and that Kat had wanted to give up the power.

Andros rose from his seat and Ashley followed suit. Together they announced their engagement and Ashley had to show her ring to both Hayley and Kat, Karone had looked at it earlier. Next Kat stood and explained about how she had thought of giving up the power, but decided that it chosen her for a reason. "So," she said "while I never intended to return to my life as a Ranger, I will see this fight through to the end."

Tommy then stood back up and said "Guy's now it's time to tell you the most important piece of information regarding this meeting. I found out when I came home last night from saving Hayley's butt," he smiled innocently and she scowled at him "that the pink gem is missing." Everyone stood and began asking how someone managed to get through all the security systems he had in place around it. "I don't think anyone stole it, I think it somehow activated. Come," he began walking towards his basement and motioned for everyone to follow him. Once down there he showed the gem sized hole he had found in the safe's door. "Now I do know," he said "that the gem didn't bond with anyone at Lightspeed, in Blue Bay, on Mirinoi, or here in Reefside. I still need to check on Angel Grove, Turtle Cove, San Angeles, Briarwood, and Pai Zhuq."

"I just saw T.J and the others this morning; their morphers were still the astro morphers." Andros said, and Ashley nodded.

"Great, that rules Angel Grove out," Tommy said, almost happily "But we need to check the others. Kat, Karone, and Hayley you guys go to Briarwood and ask Leanbow and Udonna and ask them if they've seen a pink gem flying through the air anywhere?" the three nodded. "Andros, Ashley, Jason, and I will contact San Angeles and Turtle Cove; Sensei Kanoi said he would contact the Pai Zhuq for us." With that said the two groups went their separate ways, Kat, Karone, and Hayley teleported to Briarwood, while Tommy and Jason went to the basement to contact Mr. Hartford in San Angeles, and see what Sensei Kanoi had found out, while Andros and Ashley went to the Animarium above Turtle Cove.

"Thank you Mr. Hartford," Tommy said as they cut the connection to San Angeles "Well, no gems over there. He even showed us the morphers. Let's hope the others find the gem before it finds it Ranger…" Tommy didn't even want to think about another person being forced against their will to be evil, he had suffered through that, twice. Jason had as well, both knew it wasn't pleasant. "Alright," Tommy said "let's see what Sensei Kanoi has to offer us."

Andros and Ashley stared in amazement as they landed within the Animarium. "It's beautiful!" Ashley exclaimed "Even more so than Cole described it!"

As they wandered around looking for Princess Shayla they ran into Merrick and Zen-Aku. "Who are you?!" Zen-Aku demanded, but Merrick threw his arm out in front of him and said "Easy, they're friends. Zen, this is Andros and Ashley. Andros, Ashley, this is Zen-Aku."

"Nice to meet you," both said as they held a hand out for Zen-Aku to shake. Although at first a little wary, he eventually shook their hands.

"So," Merrick asked, getting to the point "what brings you to the Animarium?" Andros then explained about all that happened in the past few weeks and about the pink gem disappearing.

"So, have you seen the gem anywhere? I mean, are the Wild Force Morphers still the same?"

Merrick led them to a chest where Princess Shayla had placed the morphers until they were needed again, and opened it. Inside laid the five Growl Phones and one Lunar Caller. "As you can see," Merrick said, breaking the silence "all of our morphers are just fine." Ashley and Andros thanked him kindly and said their goodbyes before returning to Tommy's.

"Animarium is clean," Ashley said as she entered the basement with Andros.

"So is Pai Zhuq. Man!" Tommy punched the wall, Andros and Ashley jerked, surprised by his actions. They had never seen him so worried. "We need to find that damn gem!"

"Whoa," Jason said, getting off the wall and stopping Tommy from hitting the wall again "there's no sense in letting it get you this worked up bro."

Tommy took a few minutes to calm down before saying "You're right. But still, I don't want to be responsible for there being an evil Ranger out there!"

"You're not, man none us could've known that the gem would've, or even could've, busted through that safe. It's not your fault bro." Tommy let Jason's words sink in.

"Let's hope the others find the gem in Briarwood."

Golver was tired of waiting, he wanted to go and capture one the Rangers now, and not when Trixabus said so. "My Lord," Golver asked "When will we be sent to capture one of the Rangers?"

"Patience my little baboon, it won't be long now. Just a little while longer," Trixabus said in his most soothing voice. "But until then," he continued "Shut your sniveling little waste of a mouth! Do you want to end up like that?" he shouted and pointed at the human shaped back smear on his wall. 'That little Alia thinks I'll actually bring her worthless brother back if she serves me? Ha! What a joke. She should consider herself lucky; after all, when her usefulness has run its course she'll be joining him in Hell!' he began laughing as loudly as he could.

'What's so funny?' Golver thought, but didn't dare ask.

Meanwhile in Briarwood, Kat, Karone, and Ashley landed in the forest, not far off from where they wanted to go, but not exact either. "I need to talk to Tommy about fixing the teleportation system," Karone complained as she pulled a twig out of her hair.

"So," Kat began "how long have the two of you been dating?"

Karone looked a little surprised to hear Tommy's ex taking an interest in his current love life. The most that Karone had even seen the two of them talk was when they first saw each other in the moon palace a few weeks ago. "Um, about two weeks now I think, maybe a week and a half."

Kat made an 'hm' sound and said "Well I'm glad things are going well for you."

'I can't believe he didn't try to rekindle our relationship first!' Kat thought sourly 'Instead he goes after Karone? I know that Tommy and I are through, for good, but still I wish he had at least tried!' As the girls trampled through the forest Karone couldn't help but get lost in her own thoughts.

'Am I truly Astronema at my core? I mean, at first I didn't even think twice about killing Darkonda…until I heard those names; 'Astronema', 'Queen of Evil' I'm not evil though…not anymore.'

Hayley was deep in thought about how to go about asking Jason out, she had stayed up the night before thinking about him and how sweet he had been to her. She had decided that Tommy was a lost cause, and that Jason was the right choice for her.

The girls continued to walk through the forest, each immersed in their own thoughts a pink clad warrior watched them from afar. The helmet was designed to look like the face of a Haast's Eagle, and the uniform had a shattered diamond shape in the center, with a pink shield stopping just a little into the diamond.

* * *

A/N: I didn't want everyone thinking I forgot about bringing the Phantom Ranger in, though I did give him a name. Zejtar, sounds alien doesn't it?


	16. Chapter 16

**17**

Kira was smiling; she had just finished recording her new CD and was awaiting its release the following week. She was filled with joy, music had always been her passion and now she was a full-fledged recording artist. It still tickled her to think that people across the world were listening to her music; she had certainly come a long way from the Cyber Café and high school dances. She was walking towards her car, visible only by the dim street light in the corner of the parking lot.

'I wonder what Dr. O's up to now…' she mused 'Maybe I should pay him a visit tomorrow.' As if on cue, when she unlocked her car door Golver and Alia appeared and grabbed her. "Uhn, hey let go of me!" she cried.

"Why should I? My Master wants a new Ranger to toy with!" Golver cried out in pain as an earsplitting screech rang right in his ear, he let go of Kira and covered his ears. "What is that horrible sound?" he cried.

Kira smiled and said "Like my Ptera-scream?"

"You sing with that mouth?" Alia asked, also covering her ears "It's no wonder I heard your music wasn't selling!"

'Oh that bitch did not just insult my singing!' Kira thought, knowing full well her CD's were selling 'I don't know who she is, and I don't care, but she's going down!' Golver quickly retreated to avoid having his ears blown out again, leaving the battle between Alia and Kira.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!" Kira yelled an instant later a yellow light blinded Alia and the Yellow Dino Ranger stood in Kira's place. Kira pulled her Ptera-Daggers out and brought them down upon Alia, who blocked them by pulling two swords out of her jacket sleeves. "Where did they come from?"

Alia ignored her and threw her backwards. Kira regained her balance and charged Alia, this time throwing one dagger in advance for her to block, while she rammed the other dagger into her stomach. Alia looked hurt for a brief second, then gritted her teeth and kicked Kira full force, sending her rolling across the pavement. "That," Alia said while she pulled the dragger out, grunting "hurt!"

Kira looked up from the ground and thought 'Oh shit.' She quickly pulled herself up and ran to get her other dagger, the one she had thrown, before Alia could. She grabbed it and thought to herself 'Okay, so stabbing in the gut doesn't work. Unless I stab her in the head I'm screwed.' Alia broke Kira Ptera-Dagger in two and threw it to the side. 'That's really not good. I think I may need help…'

Back in Briarwood the girls had finally found their way out of the forest and after a little more searching found the Rock Emporium. A tan man with dark hair dressed in green greeted them as they walked "Hello and welcome to the Rock Emporium, how can I help you?"

Hayley looked at the man and said "We're looking for Leanbow and Udonna. But I guess you'll do, Xander."

Xander looked at Hayley for a moment then it all came back to him "Oh!" he exclaimed when he remembered "Hayley! How've ya been? It's been what, two, three years since the first and only time we met? I-" he stopped before he finished that sentence "-I wasn't expecting to see you and, uh. Um, who are they?" he smiled sheepishly.

"This is Kat, and that's Karone." Each of the girls waved when Hayley introduced them. "We're here to find Leanbow and Udonna; we need to speak with them on an important matter."

"Well, they aren't here at the moment. They took Nick on a sort of family vacation. But I'd be more than happy to help, Daggeron's around here somewhere as well."

"Talking about me behind my back?" said a man from behind Xander, he too was tan with dark hair, but he was also a little bigger and had facial hair.

"Oh, hey there Daggeron. No, they were just looking for Leanbow and Udonna. I'm not sure why yet, they haven't explained." Hayley and the others all sat down in the back and explained the situation.

"So have you seen a pink gem flying around anywhere?" Karone quickly asked.

Daggeron thought for a moment then said "No, I can't say that have. You say they bond with the old morphers and create new ones? Would like to see our morphers?"

"If it's not too much trouble," Kat said, speaking for the first time. So Daggeron led them to where they kept the morphers and they examined each one just to make sure.

"Nope," Karone said, a little disappointed "no gem infused morpher here…"

"Thank you," Hayley said "really."

"Oh it was no trouble, I'm sorry we couldn't be of more help." After everyone said their goodbye's the girls began to head back to the Rock Emporium to say goodbye to Xander when a pink stream of light landed in front of them.

Kira was panicking, 'why didn't I call someone sooner?' This new girl was blood thirsty! She didn't care about taking Kira back to Trixabus, she wanted to kill her! "What the hell did I ever do to her?" Kira asked herself, eyes wide beneath her helmet. Kira looked down at her one dagger, that nut had already snapped the other one. Kira had been dodging her attacks for what seemed like hours now. She would de-morph and use her Ptera-scream, but she might lose an appendage in the process if she wasn't fast enough.

Suddenly there was a whistling in the air, followed by "Come here little canary!" then more whistling. "All I want to do is kill you slowly!" Alia smiled. She had this Ranger on the run. 'I don't care what Trixabus wants her for; I just want to kill her. Her damn screech hurt my ears; I need to even the score!' She continued to walk around the parking lot, slowly slicing anything in her way. Just hoping she'd strike the Yellow Ranger's neck.

Back in Briarwood the pink light had fizzled into a Pink Ranger, the helmet was that of an Eagle, there was a shattered diamond on the chest, a skirt, and pink shield over the shoulders. Karone led the team into battle.

"RaptorZord Power UP!"

"Prehistoric Shark Power UP!"

"White Ranger Stegosaurus Power UP!"

All the females had morphed, and they all ran to the Pink Ranger at the same time. Karone jumped and attempted to kick the Ranger on the side of her head, but she easily dodged. Hayley shot her throwing needles at her, which she caught each one and shot them back, impaling Hayley. The two then circled the Pink Ranger who jumped and did a spin kick, cracking each of the helmets with force behind it. Her gaze then fell to Kat. The only one not to try an attack yet.

The Pink Ranger pulled her weapon, a broad sword with saw like teeth on it, out. She ran towards Kat, who had drawn her blasters and was shooting her, but the shield kept her from receiving any damage. The Pink Ranger then took her sword and brought down into Kat's shoulder, tearing through the suit and into the muscle. Kat cried out in agony, dropped her blaster, fell on her back, and grasped her arm.

Kira was hoping for a miracle, she knew that if help didn't arrive soon that she'd be killed. Alia was closing in on her, fast. 'Oh God, oh God, oh God!' Kira screamed in her head 'I'm going to die!' This opponent was by far stronger than any she had ever encountered. Her swords could extend and wrap around someone, tearing deep into their flesh. Kira had found that out first hand. She still wasn't sure how he had gotten free. She looked down at her suit; there were tears and blood all over it.

'Almost have her,' Alia smirked. She had enjoyed torturing Kira; she even let her loose from her swords just so she could live that pain a little longer. Then, without warning, a wave of sky blue water came out of nowhere and sent Alia flying. She felt water enter her mouth and begin to choke her. "What's going on?" she managed to gargle.

Kat was slipping in and out of consciousness she saw her teammates get pummeled by the Pink Ranger, but couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't even feel her arm anymore. 'Am I dying?' she wondered as her vision blackened.

Hayley, having pulled her own needles out of her, continued to fight the Pink Ranger with Karone. 'I should call Tommy for back up,' she thought 'but I want to prove I don't need his or Jason's help!' Hayley grabbed the Pink Ranger by the shoulder and began repeatedly kicking her in the gut. The Pink Ranger brought her leg up and kicked Hayley back, sending her into a tree.

Hayley was trying to land a blow on the Pink Ranger, but to no avail. Every time she'd thro her needles, that big, saw-toothed sword would block them. She made a toss at the Pink Rangers waist, and to her surprise it connected! The Pink Ranger screamed when she felt the points dig into her skin; it was the first time any of them had heard anything close to her voice. Her minor victory was short lived however, as the Pink Ranger elbowed her in the gut, then grabbed her throat and picked her. Hayley could feel her windpipe being crushed, and the despite her best efforts the grip wasn't loosening.

Karone took her daggers and ran up behind the Pink Ranger, slicing her back. She immediately dropped Hayley, who had passed out, and turned her attention to Karone. "Ah, Astronema," the Pink Ranger finally said "so nice to see you," beneath the helmet the girl smiled.

"How do you know that name?" Karone asked, momentarily forgetting that a lot of people knew she used to be Astronema.

"I know it because I have Dark Specter's memories, and a portion of his power. Let me tell you, it feels good." Karone again took her daggers and again began assaulting the Ranger. "It's useless. You can't beat me. Didn't you see how easily I beat your friends?" Karone ignored her and kept on swinging her daggers. The Pink Ranger kept skillfully dodging them. "Oh, did I forget to mention, I killed your precious Dr. Oliver as well as that brother of yours!"

Karone felt tears well up around her eyes. She knew the bitch was lying, but it still affected her to hear it. "You're lying!"

"Am I? His last word was 'Karo-'" the Pink Ranger clapped her hands like she was crushing something "before I crushed his skull with my bare hands." She laughed.

Karone froze for an instant, 'Did she really kill them?' she wondered. The Pink Ranger saw this as an opportunity and fell to her hands, spread her legs, and began to spin, kicking Karone in her throat and knocking her into a tree. The Pink Ranger looked around at the four broken Rangers.

'I'll kill them later, all of them,' she thought, then teleported away.

Karone, before passing out, spoke into her communicator "T-Tommy….h…elp…"

Kira looked around to see what had happened to Alia and saw her laying unconscious in the parking lot. "Don't worry," said a chipper female voice "she won't be getting up for a while. Though she will eventually wake up. We'd better get out of here." Kira looked up to see Tori standing over her with her hand held out.

"What took you so long? Our cities are right next to each other!" Kira screamed, and fell over. Tori caught her before she hit the ground again.

"Well that's a fine thank you."

"Sorry…" Kira slipped into sweet sleep. She was exhausted.

"Come on, I'll take you back to Dr. Oliver's" Tori said as she picked Kira up. An instant later a blue streak was seen jumping from building to building.

Tommy, Jason, Ashley, and Andros were waiting for the others to report when Tommy got a garbled message "T-Tommy…h…elp…"

"That sounded like Karone!" Andros said both he and Tommy then got extremely worried looks on their faces.

'Just what the hell happened at Briarwood?' Tommy cursed 'I knew I should've gone with them!' Tommy told Ashley and Jason to stay and watch over the house, Jason said no, that he was going. Ashley also said no. Tommy eventually caved and the four of them teleported to the coordinates that Tommy had tracked Karone's communicator too.

A silver Mustang was pulling up in Tommy's yard as the four beams exited the house. "Looks like we just missed him," Ryan said as he watched the beams head east "But don't worry, he'll be back soon."

"What's that?" Zejtar pointed to a blue bouncing light headed for them.

"That would be the Blue Wind Ranger, I believe her name's Tori, Tori Hanson."

Tori came to a stop once she reached Tommy's house. She had in her arms, a broken and beaten Yellow Dino Ranger. "Oh shit," Ryan said seeing Kira "I'd better call my sis."

A few hours later Dana Grayson arrived at the Oliver residence. "Where is he?" she asked in a 'not again you dumbass' voice.

"She," Ryan pointed at Kira "Tori here was just filling me in on the details of what happened to her. Though she doesn't know everything."

"Oh my God…" Dana said when she saw Kira "I don't think I've ever seen Thomas this bad off…"

"Really?" Tori quipped "I mean the man did have a sword run through his shoulder not long ago."

"Yes, but this is worse. This is multiple cuts to the muscle, some even to the bone. She's gonna be bed ridden for months!"

Tommy and the others arrived just outside Briarwood where the battle had ended, to their horror the three Rangers were in really poor condition. Everyone of them had de-morphed and the wounds were easier to see. "What the hell happened here?" Tommy asked. 'How could I let this happen to my girlfriend, Andros' sister!' he yelled at himself. "Guys, we need to get them back to Reefside. Let's go!" he shouted. Tommy carefully lifted Karone with Andros' help, Jason grabbed Hayley and stroked her hair, noticing the bruises at her throat, and Ashley hoisted Kat up on her back, trying to damage her arm anymore than it already was.

When the Rangers safely got their teammates home they were surprised to see Dana already there. Ashley was more surprised to see the Phantom Ranger there though. "What happened to them?" Tori asked, taking in the gruesome sight of three more bloody, half dead Rangers.

"We're not sure," Jason answered coldly. He wasn't mad at Tori or anything, he was just going to kill whoever had done this to Hayley. Tommy and Andros felt the same way about Karone.

Dana pulled her phone out and said "Yeah, I'm gonna need a chopper over at Reefside, asap." About half an hour later a loud chopper descended upon Tommy's yard and the four Rangers were quickly and carefully set inside, leaving no room for passengers.

"Dr. Oliver," the Phantom Ranger said "I must speak with you."

"Do it on the way back to Mariner Bay," Tommy ordered as he climbed in his Jeep. Zejtar sat in the seat next to him, Andros and Ashley climbed in the back. Ryan drove his Mustang back and Dana her van.


	17. Chapter 17

**18**

Alia awoke a few minutes following Tori and Kira's departure. 'What happened?' she wondered. She stood and began looking around for the Yellow Dino Ranger. 'Damn!' she cursed 'It looks like she's gone! If that water princess hadn't shown up then I'd have had her!' She cursed a few more times and then teleported back to the moon palace.

"Well?" Trixabus asked upon her entering the throne room "Where is the Ranger I sent you to get?"

Alia looked down at the floor and choked back on the bile rising in her for what she was about to say. "She…she got away…master." She made a jerk at the last word as the bile rose.

"You insolent little fool!" Trixabus cried, firing a bolt of lightning at her, it zapped past her head and singed her hair. Alia head snapped up, eyes wide. "I send you to grab one puny Ranger and you have the nerve to show your face here after failing me!" He fired another bolt, hitting her in the stomach.

She flew back against the wall and thanked all that was evil that it hadn't been the type of bolt used on her brother. "I-I'm sorry…" here came the bile again "…master…"

After a few more minutes of cursing, and calling Golver in to beat on him for abandoning the mission, he finally said "The two of you have one last chance. Fail me again and you will both suffer a fate worse than him," he pointed to Zokk's black smear on the wall.

"Yes, my Lord," Golver said, bowing "What is it that you want us to do?"

Trixabus shot another bolt at Golver just for fun before saying "I want you to go back down to Earth and bring me the human known as Edd Lerodz. But do not, under any circumstances, harm him. He must be alive and in ONE piece. Now go! Get out of my sight."

Alia and Golver quickly teleported out of the throne room before he could beat them some more. Rito was just outside the throne room, coming to tell Trixabus about the pink gem and how it had been gone when he went to search for it when he heard Trixabus talking to someone. "Soon," he said "soon you will be free and together we will release the others. Then the Rangers will all be destroyed and those gems will be ours!"

'Who's he talkin' to?' Rito wondered 'Oh well, doesn't concern me.' He then walked into the throne room saying "Well, Trixy, I hate to tell you this but it seems the pink gem has found its Ranger. We moved too late,"

Trixabus glared, or what Rito assumed was a glare, at him and said "We? Are you insinuating that I had something to do with your sluggish movement!?"

"Well, yeah, I mean c'mon, if you had sent after that there gem earlier we'd have it," Rito said before thinking, as he often did. Trixabus growled and began scorching the skeleton with bolts of lightning. "Ouch, hey c'mon Trixy! That hurts!" Rito cried as he fled the throne room.

"Insolent dolts!" he cried "Why did I have to get stuck with these pathetic life forms!"

The drive back to Mariner Bay seemed to take forever to Tommy, even with the Phantom Ranger's story. Tommy listened intently even as his mind was focused on his teammates, especially Karone. The Phantom Ranger had said that he, on his home planet of Jupinus, received a transmission from someone named Kat Manx. It had been a little garbled but it stated that someone named Baneero had escaped from his imprisonment in the M-51 Galaxy. "I am aware of the danger Earth faces with Trixabus escape, the whole universe is talking about how Earth is doomed, but now Baneero has also set his sights on your friend's planet. Zejtar, you must warn Earth's defenses! They cannot be taken by surprise!"

'Great,' Tommy thought wryly 'we have half of our team in intensive care and now another slimy bastard is coming?! When will it end?' Mariner Bay was visible in the distance, maybe another fifteen minutes till they were in the city, another twenty till they reached the Aqua Base. 'I really hope the others will be okay…'

Ashley had been wanting to say something ever since they got back to Tommy's. She was so surprised at seeing the Phantom Ranger again; hearing him say his name had been an even bigger shock though. 'Zejtar…' she mused 'interesting name.'

'When I find who did this to my sister, they'll regret harming her. I swear it!' Andros thought, his fists clenched tightly on his pants. He was pissed, and was sure that Tommy felt the same way. Andros had tried to be very protective of his little sister ever since she came back into his life, while also trying to treat her as an adult.

Tommy clenched the steering wheel and his knuckles turned white 'Why do they always go after my girlfriend? Or ex girlfriend?' he shouted inwardly. First Zedd had targeted Kim by stealing her Ninjetti Coin, then before they even dated Rita and Zedd targeted Kat by placing a spell over her, then Divatox had targeted Kim by lowering her into that pit of pure evil, and now Karone? 'Am I a curse or something?' he wondered.

Thinking about the pit on Muranthias, his thoughts couldn't help but fall on what had happened after they got Jason and Kim back to Angel Grove. He confronted Kim about the 'Dear John' letter she had sent him, but she had fervently denied ever sending him the letter. "But Kim," he had said "I know I received a letter from you, in it you said you had found someone else and were leaving me for him."

"Tommy," she replied sternly "I swear to you, I never wrote, nor did I send you a letter like that."

"Then who did?!" he demanded, surprised at his how easily his anger had taken over in that question.

"I don't know. There was a guy, his name was Logan, he was always hitting on me, even when I sat him down and explained I had a boyfriend. Maybe he sent it."

Tommy thought back to the letter, it had definitely been Kim's handwriting though. "But it was your handwriting I saw."

Kim sighed "Well it wasn't me. Not that it matters now, I mean, you waited over a year to even talk to me about it. And to make it worse, from what Kat said it was only about two or three weeks before you started hitting on her after I left. How do you explain that Thomas?"

Tommy sighed, he knew she was pissed at him when she used Thomas. "I can't. I mean, I supported your decision to go, but I was really hoping you would think I was more important and stay. But apparently I was wrong about you, and about our whole relationship. Goodbye, Kimberly Ann Hart." With that being the last words he had said to her he teleported out.

'Man…hard to believe thirteen years have passed since then and neither one us has bothered to even try to contact the other.' He sighed and focused back on Zejtar's story. He continued to talk about all the galaxies Baneero had conquered in his heyday, he slaughtered everyone who got in his way. Starting with the men. He was always met with little to no resistance though, after his fourth of fifth galaxy people had just begun to give up hope and surrender as soon as his forces landed.

Finally they had reached the Aqua base, Tommy and Andros ran in without the others, in a hurry to see how Karone and the others were doing. When they reached the Medical Ward they immediately asked the doctors how they were doing. "Well," said a middle-aged man, probably in his forties "they took quite a beating, but they should all recover within the next two weeks. Thanks to the Rangers of Aquitar, as well as the residents of KO-35 we have medical supplies that are so much more efficient that Earth's that they look like they belong in medieval times." Tommy sighed a sigh of relief that was the best news he'd heard in a while. Dana arrived with the other Rangers behind them, and the doctor, who Dana addressed as Dr. Fritzfield filled her in on what was going on.

Hayley awoke inside Tommy's basement, the old DinoThunder HQ, she got up off of the floor and began wandering around. Her heels clicked and clacked on the linoleum floor of the basement. 'Why am I here? Where'd the Pink Ranger, where did Briarwood go?' she wondered.

"Hello Hayley," said a voice from behind her, she spun around and saw Tommy Oliver, not the Tommy from today but from their college years. She stared at him, reaching out to touch his face.

"Did you rejuvenate yourself on Aquitar or something?" she asked, before he could answer Tommy melted away and reformed into Jason Lee Scott.

"Or is this who you really want to test you?" Jason asked, smirking at her. "Because if it's not," Jason melted away and Tommy reformed "I can always test you like this."

"W-what's going on?" Hayley stammered "Who are you?"

"You mean you don't recognize me? We've become such good buddies lately!" Tommy's image once again melted and the White Prehistoric Ranger stood in his place. "Do I look familiar now?"

Hayley took a step back and asked "What's going on here?"

"Ding ding ding," the suit said "It's time for your test sweetheart." The suit hissed.

"What test?" Hayley asked, puzzled.

The suit stepped aside and said "All you have to do is solve this binary code in under a minute. If you to truly be the scientist of the team, it should be no problem."

"Binary code?" Hayley laughed "That'll be easy!"

"Oh will it now?" the suit asked, it split apart and each half of it began to form something else. When it was through Tommy and Jason stood before her.

"You must solve it," Tommy said.

"While both men you want so badly surround you and try to give you what you want," Jason finished.

Hayley stared at the code "Okay she said…let's see. " she tried to focus on the long code, as Jason and Tommy both touched her and whispered in her ears.

"Come on, forget the code and come home with me," Jason cooed.

"Forget him, let's go upstairs and have some fun," Tommy tickled her ear with his tongue.

'Lucky for me,' Hayley thought 'I've always been able to avoid physical advances and focus on my work. Guess the suit didn't pick that up.'

After about another ten, twenty seconds Hayley shouted "Got it! It reads 'You are worthy Hayley;!" she cried.

"Corrrrrrrrect!" the suit shouted as Tommy and Jason vanished and it reappeared. "Well, now that the preliminary test is over, it's time to see if your physical strength is as good as your mental," if the suit had had a mouth, it would've been smiling.

Back in the Aqua Base Karone had begun to stir, her eyes fluttered a little and Tommy jumped from his seat and was by her bed in an instant. "H-he…y…" she managed weakly "yo….u….ot…my….call…."

"Who did this to you?" he asked, trying to hide the anger in his voice. Once he knew who did this he was going to rip them limb from limb. If was Golver he'd start with the wings.

"P-pink…Ran…" Karone slipped back into unconsciousness.

Tommy's eyes grew wide with horror. He never would have guessed that the Pink gem had held so much power. For that one Ranger to have taken three out, he hadn't heard of someone beating the Ranger's this badly since he himself had done it. He looked over at Kira's bed and wondered 'And just who is that Tori saw her fighting? A girl with pink hair and a leather jacket?'

Back in Hayley's dream world she had begun to fight the White Ranger, she toppled over boxes and crates of stuff scattered throughout the basement. The suit hadn't even given her a weapon, it left her defenseless. Quickly she ran up began trying to punch it, but it always blocked her blows. Frustrated she picked up one of the metal chairs and bashed it over the helmet. Tired of her silly antics, the suit grabbed her by the throat and began squeezing the life out of her 'Oh shit! Not again!' she thought. Quickly she drew her leg back and kicked the suit firmly in the chest, forcing it to let her go. Quietly, and most unexpectedly the suit vanished in a puff of white smoke with the hissing sound of "passssss" accompanying it.

Hayley rose, gasping for breath, 'Where am I now?' she asked herself. She felt something heavy on her legs, she looked down to see Jason sleeping, snoring actually, on her. A smile spread across her face and she looked around, Karone, and Kat were still sleeping. She also saw Kira laying on a bed. She looked over at Karone's bed and saw Tommy deep in thought, Andros were sitting with him. Over by Kira's bed Dana and Tori were thinking, and Ryan sat by Kat. 'What happened?' Hayley asked, she then remembered the fight with the Pink Ranger, and her subsequent mental battle with the White Ranger and she mouth "Oh."


	18. Chapter 18

**19**

Down, far beneath Earth's surface in the depths of the Shadow World a familiar screeching could be heard, it had annoyed the other residents of the Shadow World for many years. "Let me out of here!" it cried "This isn't fair!" The double cone-haired woman continued to yell and bang her staff against the walls, she tried magic, but that didn't work as well as she had hoped. "Damn it! Let me out! Zedd you son of a bitch! Why weren't you sent down here?!"

"Oh shut up Frita!" yelled another woman, this one had a long, purple ponytail and was dressed in boots that came up to her knees, gloves to her elbows, a long, red cape, and a golden mask that covered half of her face. "If someone were going to let you out, they'd have done it years ago. Face it," she pouted "we're stuck down here for life while our 'good'" she said the word in a little higher pitch "halves get to roam free. To think, such beauty has to rot away down here for eternity," she sighed, looking in a mirror.

Another woman, dressed in a tight, black leather suit with silvery-gray armor and long black hair with some braids in the front walked up. Her boots echoed in the empty, hellish place. "Would you both," she said sweetly, "shut up!" she growled. "We will get out of here, soon. Just wait and see," she smiled her crooked smile and giggled a little.

Back in Reefside the Pink Ranger walked up to Tommy's house. 'So this is where he lives,' she thought wryly. She entered his house and walked through his living room, he had pictures of all his former Ranger teams framed. First was the DinoThunder team which consisted of; himself, Conner McKnight, Ethan James, Kira Ford, and Trent Fernandez. Next he had a picture of the Zeo/Turbo team; himself, Katherine Hillard, Jason Scott, Rocky DeSantos, Justin Stewart, Adam Park, and Tanya Sloan. Finally there was the original team; himself, Jason Scott, Trini Kwan, Zach Taylor, Rocky DeSantos, Adam Park, Aisha Campbell, Kimberly Hart, and Billy Cranston.

Her hand fell to the Zeo/Turbo picture and she picked it up. Beneath her helmet she sneered and went "Hmph!" and she crushed the picture frame and tore the picture to shreds. After thoroughly trashing his living room she made her way into his kitchen and eventually every other room in his house, trashing them all and laughing. 'I can't believe that the leader of the Power Rangers lives in such a dump!'

Back in Mariner Bay Tommy had seen Hayley sit up and asked if she was alright, she felt for the bruises around her throat and said "Yeah, everything seems to be healed."

"Do you feel well enough to train?" he asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder to say "it's okay if you're not."

But before he could she replied "With you? No."

"Of course not with me," he said, looking back at Karone, Kat, and Kira "I'm going to be in here until everyone wakes up."

'Or until Karone does,' Hayley thought sourly.

"Jason," he continued "will be your teacher now. Hey Jase," he gave Jason a nudge to wake him.

"Mmm what I'm up," he said, still half asleep.

"Hayley's awake," Tommy said, and Jason sat straight up as if that were some magical spell. "Jason, I want you to take her to the simu-deck Andros built for Lightspeed and train her. I don't want anything like this," he threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing to the three injured Rangers, "happening again. From now on we stay close to one another, this shouldn't happen again. So," he continued "take Hayley, and train her the very best way you can."

"Sir, yes sir!" Jason said, joking.

"This isn't the time for jokes Jase," Tommy said, his eye cold and narrow.

'Whoa,' Jason thought 'I've never seen that look in his eye before…'

Karone was next to wake, this time she managed to stay awake. She sat up and looked at Tommy, then Andros. "Mmm. What happened?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey gorgeous," Tommy said, cracking a smile across his mask for the first time since seeing her lying there in Briarwood, lifeless.

Karone smiled and leaned up to kiss him, he leaned down so she wouldn't strain herself. They smiled at each other as their lips parted and Karone whispered "Hey yourself."

"Are you alright?"

Karone wiggled everything from her toes to her neck and said "Yeah, just a few bruises is all."

"Why don't you fill me in on what happened?" he asked.

"Well," she began "we had just finished checking the Mystic Rangers morphers and were headed back to tell Xander bye, when a," she paused, sipping the water that Ryan handed her, "a Pink Ranger, in an outfit similar to ours, but with a shield like yours attacked us. She went after Kat first, critically anyway. She pulled this massive broadsword…" Karone spent the next thirty minutes giving Tommy every detail of the battle, right up to the Pink Ranger saying she had killed him.

"Man," Tommy sighed "she sounds brutal, she is brutal. She put the three of you in the hospital! And on top of that there's some new girl working with Golver who put Kira in here as well."

"You think it's the same person?" Karone asked.

"No, I don't think so. The fighting styles sound different and judging by the fact that Tori had made it to my place not long before we did, it sounds like the attacks took place at the same time. Whether that was coincidence or not, I don't know."

Karone sighed and looked over at Andros who had been waiting for his turn to speak. "Yes, Andros?"

Andros' head perked up and he said "Oh, nothing. I'm just glad you're safe. I agree, Tommy, we should try to stay together as much as possible." Tommy nodded, but didn't say anything. "Karone, do you have any idea who the Pink Ranger is?" Karone simply nodded her head.

Ashley had gone out wandering around the base, looking for the Phantom Ranger. She passed by the simu-deck where Jason was teaching Hayley martial arts, Captain Mitchell's office, Dr. Angela Rawling's office, and she even ran into her husband Joel. "Hey, Joel" she said "have you seen a guy, he's kinda tall, wears black armor, and may be invisible?"

"Oh you mean that guy?" Joel asked, pointing behind her.

"Oh! Yeah, that's him. Thanks!"

"No problem, now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm in trouble. Angela's yelling." He said, adjusting his cowboy hat and going to meet his 'doom' as he put it.

"Hey," Ashley said, facing the Phantom Ranger "sorry I didn't speak earlier, but I didn't feel like it was the right time."

"Hello, Ashley," Zejtar said "How have you been?"

Ashley flashed a smile and said "I've been good. Getting married next month, hopefully." She held up her hand to show him the ring.

"That's a KO-35 diamond. Is Andros the one who proposed?" he asked.

"Yes!" she squeaked and jumped up with joy.

Somewhere in Egypt Edd Lerodz was exploring a new tomb found beneath one of the pyramids. "Look at this," he said to himself "astounding. These hieroglyphs tell the events of the United Alliance of Evil! What's this?" he moved a little further down the wall and saw a figure that resembled Lord Zedd, but under it read "Trixabus." Before he could decipher what the rest of the symbols meant he was grabbed by two beings. "What the-?" he froze when he saw Golver. "Goldar?" he asked, scared out of his wits.

"Close," Golver growled "try his brother. Lord Trixabus has demanded your presence. We thought we would escort you ourselves." Alia just smiled.

"What? Trixabus? No!" Edd cried out in agony as Alias's knee landed swiftly in his gut, quickly silencing him.

"Stupid, feeble man," she groaned. In a flash of pink and silver they were gone.

Tommy had helped Karone out of bed and took her to the cafeteria for some food. She insisted he go to Hayley's first and pick up a certain outfit for her first though. It was just one of those fights he couldn't win. So he teleported over to Hayley's and picked up her purple strap-less shirt, black jeans, and black denim jacket.

Karone swiftly changed clothes, and returned. 'It's like she's already completely healed' Tommy thought to himself.

"Tommy," Karone asked, playing with her spaghetti "I can tell you anything…right?" He nodded. "Well, y'see, when I had my dream battle…to prove myself…I…" she paused, choking back tears at the memory "I became Astronema again…I mean…it was only in a dream, but still. Does that mean I'm truly evil deep down?"

Tommy set his hand on hers, looked her in the eyes and said "No. I have dreams about becoming an evil version of whatever ranger I am at least once. Even more so now that I'm back to my old power. Karone, it's not what happens in a dream that makes you who you are, but what you do here, in the real world." She looked at him, biting her lip and smiling at the same time.

"Thank you, I needed to hear that." She said as she got up and crossed the table to sit in his lap. She spread her legs on either side of his, grabbed his head and leaned in for a passionate kiss. For some reason, hearing the words coming from him helped a lot than they would have if they had come from someone else.

It had been four days since the Pink Ranger and Alia placed the four Rangers in the hospital and Kat was still down; her wound is the one that would take nearly two weeks to heal. When she woke up she saw Tommy over by Karone's bed and though she was a little sad to see him there and not over here with her, she was also glad he found someone he could really connect with. She then sat up and saw Ryan sitting with her. "Hey," she said, wincing from the pain in her arm "Ow…"

"Don't sit up!" Dana called from over at Kira's bed "Kat, you need your rest. You and Kira here are the most critically injured.

Kira tried to roll over, but it hurt too much. So she said up to the ceiling "Hey Kat, glad to see your awake."

"With this kind of pain," Kat winced again "I think I'd rather be asleep."

Back in the moon palace Golver and Alia brought Edd before Trixabus. Edd stared at Trixabus, trying to fight his way from the two. He succeeded once, but Alia quickly kicked him to the ground and stepped on him to hold him down. "Pick him back up, and be careful with him!" Trixabus ordered. Alia removed her boot from his back and picked him up, cutting the circulation off to his arms.

"No!" he shouted, spitting in Trixabus' face "I won't let you do this to me!"

Trixabus groaned and said "Normally I'd have you tortured for that, but I need you. You are the one." He raised his staff up over his head and fired a red lightning bolt out of it, which hit Edd in his chest.

He cried out in pain as he shouted "You son of a bitch!" Alia, Golver, and Trixabus laughed at the man's pain as his body mutated.

"Let's see here," Rito said as he wandered through the streets of Angel Grove "where do I find a former Ranger?" he walked into 'Bulk's Juice Bar' and asked a frightened Bulk and Skull if they knew where to find one.

"T-try NASADA?" Bulk said, though it was more of a question.

"NASADA? Hey! Thanks!" Rito said lifting his arm up and gagging Bulk and Skull with his stench. Rito left the Juice Bar and began wandering the streets looking for a NASADA building when he saw a familiar face walk by. 'Hey, that's Kimberly!' he thought 'At least I think it's her.'

"Hey Kimberly!" he called like they were old friends. She turned and glared him. "Yep, that's her. Guess I found my Ranger, tee-hee-hee." He ran up to grab Kimberly, he was just about to grab her when she turned around and kicked him in his ribs. "Yeah," he moaned "that's her…" before he could get up Kim was on top of him, punching and kicking. "I'm outta here!" he yelled as he quickly vanished.

Kim made her way to 'Bulk's Juice Bar' and saw the two boys napping behind the counter. 'Oh, they look so peaceful,' she thought. "Come on," she said, lightly slapping their faces "Come on, wake up guys."

After a few minutes of snoring, "I don't wanna go to school", and "but its Saturday!" the two woke up and said "watch out! That big talking skeleton is back!"

"I know; I beat him up for you," she teased Skull "My big strong man." Skull felt himself turn red a little.

Back in the Aqua Base Jason had been training Hayley for nearly a week now. Tommy and Karone had begun sparring, and Andros and Ashley prepared for the next battle with the Pink Ranger. Kat and Kira were still bed ridden. There had been no news reports about a Pink Ranger on the loose. 'Is she simply waiting for us to heal so she can beat us all over again?' Kat wondered. Her shoulder still ached, but it wasn't as bad as it had been when she first woke up four days ago. 'I hate this. This laying around while the others train for the next battle! That's it!' Kat stood, and before Dana or Ryan could grab her and make sit back down, she teleported out.

Back in the moon palace, four days ago, Edd was still screaming. The transformation seemed to be taking forever. He felt as though his flesh was slowly burning off and being replaced with chrome, his blood boiled, his eyes melted out of their sockets and red-purple visor shot down out of his skull. Trixabus fired another bolt of red lightning, followed by another and another to speed the process up. After a few more minutes of literally experienceing Hell, the pain suddenly stopped. He could feel fluids running through the tubes, his brain pulsating, and the clacking sound his fingertips made around his staff. His deep, almost metallic breathing. Before him he could see smoke, to everyone else it was red smoke, but to him it was just smoke. When the smoke cleared everyone was staring at a big, red man with a chrome exoskeleton, a 'Z' atop his head, and a chrome staff with a 'Z' on the top. "Everyone!" Trixabus called "Welcome back, Lord Zedd!"


	19. Chapter 19

**20**

Kat, doing her best to ignore the pain that she still felt in shoulder and all the way down her arm, had teleported out of the Aqua Base and to a forest somewhere outside Mariner Bay. She couldn't take everyone else training for a fight with the Pink Ranger and the eventual fight with Trixabus she knew was to come. The fact that everyone had started to train without her began to make her seriously regret her choice of staying on the team. 'What the hell was I thinking?' she thought as she kicked a nearby tree 'Tommy and I haven't been close for years, and now suddenly we're thrown on the same team? Is this someone's idea of a joke?' She punched the tree with her good arm, followed by a swift kick to it. 'Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I can't train.' Kat continued to unleash her frustration out on the tree, completely unaware that she was being watched.

"Edd?" said a man, he was short, old and had a goatee "Edd, it's been four days. Don't you ever plan on coming out?" Finster walked into the tomb and realized that his friend was gone. "Edd?" he called frantically "This isn't funny man. Where are-" he stopped when he heard something rattle. It was Edd's flashlight. He picked it up and began looking in the direction it was pointing. "My word," he said staring at the hieroglyphs. He quickly took his camera out and snapped a few shots "I've got to send these to Rita, maybe she can decipher them."

"Ah," Zedd said as he held a drink up "I tell you, it feels great to be back brother!"

Trixabus lifted his own glass up to toast Zedd. "Now," he said "we need only wait for the third member of our party to arrive and we will be able to break the seal!" the two laughed maniacally.

"Yes," Zedd hissed "Once we have everyone back together again those puny power punks won't stand a chance! This is going to be glorious!"

Tommy ran back to the Med Ward when Dana paged him, his first thought was that the Pink Ranger had found them and killed one of his friends. His second was that one had died from their wounds. He hadn't, however, considered that one of them would take off, still injured. When he found out that Kat had just taken off without any warning at all he cursed and slammed his hand into the wall. "Damn it all!" he shouted, shaking his head "Why would she do something so stupid! Come on!" he shouted to the others "We're going to find her. Tori," he pointed to the blonde sitting by Kira's bed "you're coming too. If we run into the Pink Ranger we'll need all the help we can get. Ryan, you're coming too." He didn't allow Ryan and Tori time to agree or disagree; he quickly contacted the others and told them to meet him in the Med Ward.

Meanwhile deep in space, a ship was leisurely cruising through the M-51 Galaxy. "Sir," said a dull, gravelly voice "shall I increase speed?"

"Hm? Oh, no. This pace is fine." Said a man up on a dais in the ship's control room. He looked human, long black hair with white roots and tips draped over his shoulders; his head was rested in his black gloved hand, his body was encompassed in black and crimson. His pants were loose and black; he wore a crimson shirt with a long, black duster over it. Above his right eye he had a tattoo of a snake that ended below his right eye.

"But sir," said the man again, he had two gold horns on either side of the top of his head, red, ruby like eyes, a jaw that looked like a skeletons, and green skin "at this rate it will take two Earth months to reach the planet!"

"Good," the man said as he yawned "let the others stay in Hell a little longer. I'm not ready to put up with that screeching."

"But sir!"

"Are questioning my orders, Gruumm?" the man said fiercely, yet coolly.

"N-no sir…" Gruumm replied hesitantly.

Kat continued her training, trying to force her arm to move, to no avail. "Damn!" she cursed. She gave the tree a final kick, the hardest she could muster and then collapsed from exhaustion.

"What's wrong? Did Kitty-Kat fall down?" the Pink Ranger said as she stood over Kat, "Poor baby. Here, let me make it all better!" she growled as she kicked Kat's injured arm.

Kat cried out in pain, it was like someone took a white hot rod and placed it to her skin, the pain was unbearable. She looked over at her shoulder and through her tears she could see her blue jacket turning crimson from the blood. The last thing she remembered before once again passing out, was the rough bark of the tree tearing into her back as she was rammed into it.

"Poor Kitty-Kat," the Pink Ranger cooed "she just couldn't stay awake, well let's see if we can wake her." She threw Kat into another tree, her eyes shot open and she woke for a brief second before passing out again. "Still not awake?" she asked "Well how's this?!" she stomped on Kat's shoulder, digging in with her heal. 'I hate you,' she thought 'it's all because of you!'

Tommy, Karone, Ryan, Andros, Ashley, Jason, Hayley, and Tori had split up into teams of two, promising that if they saw the Pink Ranger they'd immediately call for back up. Tommy and Karone searched the woods, Andros and Ashley the upper half of the city, Ryan and Tori the lower, and Jason and Hayley searched the fields.

Karone ran alongside Tommy, just barely able to keep up with him. She knew that he had no romantic feelings for his ex, and that this was his attitude was because he didn't want a friend, a fellow Ranger, die under his watch. He didn't want one to die period, but he'd feel a hundred times worse if it was on his team. She knew that, but she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. 'I guess having an ex on a team with the new lover is never a good thing,' Karone thought. Kat was her friend, she had been one of the only people to welcome her to Earth a few years back. Karone was always bouncing between Mirinoi and Earth, she couldn't stay on one planet for too long. It was an old habit left over from her days as Astronema. She knew Kat was her friend, and that's all she was to Tommy as well, yet she still felt jealous. 'Would Tommy do this for me?' she wondered 'Get this emotional over me?'

'Damn it! I can hear you Kat, but where are you? If that Pink Ranger kills one of my teammates I swear I will kill her!' Tommy screamed in his head 'I don't care who she is!' He continued to run as fast his legs would carry him, which, now that he had recently discovered there being a trace of the Turbo Powers left within him, was quite fast. 'I'm surprised she can keep up,' he thought 'Must come from living in space or something.' Every few minutes he'd check in on everyone as well as call back at the Aqua Base to see if they had a fix on Kat's location yet. They didn't.

Andros was deep in his thoughts, yet still alert and focused on his mission. He'd come to know Tommy fairly well over the years, the two had formed a friendship almost as strong as Tommy and Jason's. His thoughts kept going back to that look in Tommy's eyes though. He looked as if he could kill. He'd never seen that look on his face before. It scared him.

The Pink Ranger continued to torture Kat, laughing every time she cried out in pain. She loved the sound; she hated Kat, but loved the sound she was making. "That's it," she said softly, almost as if she cared, the growled "let it all out!" she shouted the last word as she ran a limb though Kat's shoulder, causing her to howl in indescribable pain as the Pink Ranger laughed.

"Tommy," sounded his communicator "Tommy can you hear me?" it was Dana.

"Go ahead Dana, hurry!"

"We found her; I'm sending the coordinates to your communicator's in three, two, one." In a flash of green and purple lights Tommy and Karone teleported to the coordinates where Kat was. When they landed Tommy quickly called the others and in a matter of seconds they were all there.

Tommy and the others rounded the corner and found the Pink Ranger crushing Kat's throat beneath her boot and laughing while hissing "Yes, yes. Die, die you bitch!"

Tommy, without thinking charged the Pink Ranger and morphed mid-run. Seeing the other Rangers behind him the Pink Ranger applied more pressure, until she thought she heard a crack and then charged Tommy.

He quickly summoned both his Turbo and his Zeo Swords while the Pink Ranger summoned her saw-toothed broadsword. "Karone, Hayley, Jason, take Kat and get her to safety. Ryan, Ashley, Andros, Tori, give me a hand. Ugh!" the Pink Ranger struck his shield with her broadsword and it knocked him off his feet.

"But..." Karone protested.

"Do it!" he growled "Get out of here!" Without further protest Karone and the others carefully grabbed Kat and teleported back to the Aqua Base.

Andros and the others quickly morphed and together they came at the Pink Ranger from all sides. She jumped and swung her sword in a circle, hoping to hit everyone. But Tommy used his Turbo Power to quickly take the blow for each of them. His shield was now horribly torn.

"Tommy," Andros called out "why did you do that?"

"Because," he grunted "I refuse to have another member of my team be put in the hospital by this monster!" He quickly jumped and brought both of his swords down upon the Pink Ranger, moving too fast for her to counter he shredded her own shield.

Ryan ran up behind her and kicked her in the back, knocking her back in Tommy's direction. Tommy ran towards her, and destroyed what remained of her shield. Now she was left nearly defenseless. Andros summoned his Spino-Ax and struck her in the side with it, causing her to cry out in pain for once. Ashley joined Tommy in the sword fight, both attacking her at once, and at least one sword connecting each time. Tori waved her hands around, creating a circle of water, and fired it like a torpedo at the Pink Ranger. It hit, and sent her flying into a tree.

"Alright," Tommy said to his team "you guys go back. I'll handle this from here."

"Are you nuts?" Ryan called "She took out three Rangers by herself! Or have you forgotten?"

"No," he said, remembering Kat "I haven't forgotten. I want you to head back, she can't be allowed to put any one of you in the same situation Kat's in! Now go!" he roared, his visor flashing green from his eyes. Hesitantly, and the others obeyed and left the battle. "Now it's just you and me, you son of a bitch." He said, trying to keep his temper in check.

"Perfect," the Pink Ranger squeaked.

Back on the moon Zedd and Trixabus were celebrating return, when Trixabus said "It's great to have you back. At least now people won't think I'm talking to myself. I know Rito overheard our last conversation."

"Ah Rito, the dear, stupid, bone-head, insolent brother to my banished wife. I can honestly say I'm grateful for his existence for once!"

"Masters," Golver said as he entered the throne room.

"What is it you sniveling ape?" Zedd asked, angry at his party being interrupted.

"It's Lord Baneero; he's requesting to speak with both of you."

"Well why didn't you say so?" Trixabus shouted "Has he arrived?"

"No my Lord, it's a transmission."

"Alright, alright. Patch him through."

A few seconds later an image of a man with white and black hair, and a duster over his shoulders appeared. "Hello, Trixabus, Zedd," he nodded nonchalantly at each of them before continuing. "Zedd, I see you have re-joined us here in the living. Can't say I'm surprised," he yawned "you never were one to stay down for long." Zedd nodded. "How are things going on the planet Earth?" he asked, acting as if he could care less "Have got the gems yet?"

Trixabus cleared his throat and said "Well, no. The Rangers are far more powerful than I initially thought."

"Have you even fought them yourself?" Baneero asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, well, that is…no." Trixabus said, showing fear for the first time ever.

"Then take Zedd, and that," he pointed to Golver "thing, and fight them. I expect all seven gems to be your possession when I arrive in two Earth months."

"Y-yes Baneero," he said quietly, and cut the transmission.

"Zedd," he said "the time for celebration has ended. We must obtain those gems, at all costs."

Zedd was lost in thought, it had been centuries since he'd seen Baneero. Though he held no higher status then either himself or his brother, Baneero was not one you'd want to disappoint. His methods of torture put Trixabus' to shame.

Tommy was having a hard time fighting the Pink Ranger, she matched him blow for blow. It was as though she knew the move he'd make before he did. Every punch he threw, every kick he sent was soundly blocked by her own. She had already snapped his Zeo Sword in half with her saw-toothed broadsword. He ran towards her, she brought her up to bear down on his helmet, only to have it hit and empty suit. He landed his sword down on her shoulder, piercing her shield. Her scream reverberated within her helmet, creating a ringing in her ears.

"How'd you like my Ninjetti suit trick?" he asked, trying to sound casual as he jumped back to a blood-stained tree.

"So," she wheezed "you can still employ that little trick?" A slight trickle of blood ran down her shoulder as she said "I won't be fooled by it again Tommy."

He once again began his assault. Despite the calm outward appearance he was trying to give off during the battle his mind was really a whirlwind of emotion; sorrow, hatred, and false hope all clouded his mind. He wasn't fighting by strategy in the battle, he was using basic instinct. Every fiber of his being screamed "Kill her, kill her for what she did to your team, to Karone…To Kat…"

'Kat,' he thought, avoiding a swipe from the broadsword 'I hope you're alive. We have our differences now, but you're still my friend…' She brought her sword down upon him as she had earlier, but this time instead of employing the suit trick he simply jumped and landed in the edge of the blade. "Hi," he said nonchalantly before bring his Turbo Sword down on her helmet. He half succeeded in what he had intended to do, the helmet may not have split open, but a chunk flew off of the top; exposing flowing brown hair.

Ryan and the others had brought Kat back to the Aqua Base as fast as the teleportation system had allowed. They had all watched as every doctor in the base came to her aid, she had quickly been rushed into intensive care, her vitals were dangerously low. That had been over nine hours ago.

"Will she be okay?" Karone asked Ashley, her eyes pleading for a positive response.

"I don't know," Ashley whispered, hand covering her face as she sobbed. Throughout her entire thirteen year tenure as a Ranger she had never seen one in such critical condition. The most they had ever suffered had been a broken bone here and there, never anything as severe as what she had seen. The only thing keeping her alive and from feeling any pain right now were the machines brought in from Aquitar. Kat had been twisted and contorted so badly that she really had looked like a pretzel. Both her legs and arms were broken in multiple places, her ribs had all but been crushed, shoulders dislocated, and her windpipe had come very close to being crushed. If they hadn't shown up when they did, Kat would be dead now. "I just…don't know…"Ashley sobbed.

Andros placed a comforting, or what he hoped was a comforting, arm around both Ashley and Karone. He wondered how anyone could be so cruel as to torture a person like that. It just didn't make sense to him. He thought back to his first meeting with Kat, she and Tommy had still been together at that point. Tommy had asked Andros and Ashley to join him on a date with Kat. She had been so polite throughout the dinner, carefully straying away from questions that she thought might hurt Andros. The two had become fast friends, he was glad to have found another friend on this, still, unfamiliar planet to him. To lose her now was more than even he could bear.

His mind began to drift over to Tommy next; before meeting the four former Turbo Rangers, his own future team, he had heard the stories of Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, White Ranger, and Red Zeo Ranger. It wasn't until he met T.J that he learned that his role model had also been the Red Turbo Ranger for a while. The stories he had heard from the Rangers of Aquitar, and Trey of Triforia, had inspired Andros. Inspired him to try to be the greatest Red Ranger, even greater than Tommy. If that were possible. He had always held Tommy in high regards, and during their first meeting he tried to hide his excitement in meeting his role model. Though he felt as though he had failed by showing off when that man had attacked the woman in the street. As it turned out though, that was exactly what he had needed to do to garner Tommy's attention. When Tommy asked him to join him and also help recruit other Red Rangers to form what was now known as the Red Legacy, or Legacy of Red as some preferred to call it, he had been elated and quick to say yes. How could he have left Tommy alone to fight the Pink Ranger? The Ranger that had been responsible for temporarily disabling half of their team.

"Guys," Andros said, removing his arms from around Karone and Ashley "I'm going back. Tommy may be our group's leader, and he may have told us to leave. But I'm going back. He's going to need my help." Before anyone could argue, he teleported out.

Jason looked over at Hayley and said "Stay here, love, I'm going with him. Tommy's been my bro for over fifteen years. I won't abandon him now." Hayley nodded, knowing that there were two reasons Jason wanted her to stay. One was because he loved her, though he hadn't admitted it, she knew it was true, and the other was because he knew, and she knew, that she wasn't trained enough to handle this Pink Ranger. As how Jason was going to fight, she didn't know.

Ryan looked over at Hayley, Karone, Ashley, and Tori and said "You three stay here. Karone, your space nature may have allowed you heal faster, and Hayley, I don't know how you healed so fast, but I want all of you to stay here. Tommy would never forgive me if anything happened to you guys." He gave Karone a look that said "especially you," and she nodded in response. And instant later he was gone.

"Oh my," said a withered old woman, she looked through her viewing globe at the events that had taken place on the moon "Edd," she said "I'm so sorry. I should have known your brother would have tried something like this…"

"Excuse me," came a deep, gravelly, yet elegant voice "where would like to set this? Mystic Mother? Rita?"

"Not now Rad, not now…"

"But Mother, it's a package for you, from Finster."

"Thank you Rad, now leave me. Please."

"Yes, Mother," Rad said, taking his leave from the bright, white room.

'Edd, I promise I will find a way to help you…'

Tommy continued his onslaught against his foe, ever since he cracked a piece of the helmet off though, his strength had been waning. He didn't know how much longer he could hold out. He could no longer sustain the weapons from his older powers. He was left with only his Dragon Dagger. His shield had long since been sliced the ribbons, a few pieces of it clung to his suit here and there, but nothing that could protect him.

The same was almost true for the Pink Ranger, she had begun to tire, but strangely had no trouble holding her morph. Her shield was completely gone, Tommy had wanted to make sure she had no protection what-so-ever. The wind blew the little tuft of hair that hung out the top of her helmet.

Tommy forced his legs to move, the pain was excruciating where her sword had connected several times, but still he trudged on. He held his Dragon Dagger ready to fight, though she possessed the bigger weapon, it didn't mean anything to him. He had had many sword-like weapons and was very adept in their uses. He ran towards her, thrusting himself forward. Just as he reached her though, his legs decided to give into the pain, and he fell. Her sword was almost to his neck, ready to severe it. But before it could connect, a red ax, a sword, and a lance all came out of nowhere and blocked it. She cursed and looked to see who the new comers were. Before her stood the Red Prehistoric Ranger, the Original Red Ranger, and the Lightspeed Titanium Ranger.


	20. Chapter 20

**21**

The Pink Ranger stared at her three new combatants. She could feel that two of them were strong with the morphing grid, while the third, well he was joke. "If you've come to save your friend," she kicked Tommy's helmets chin and sent him rolling back "I've already killed him." She took a step towards the three new comers and said "Would any of you care to join him?" she looked from Andros, to Ryan, and finally rested her eyes on Jason. "How about you?" she pointed to him. She took her sword and held it fully extended out in front of her. Its tip scratched against Jason's visor, and then his nose as his morph wavered. 'So he's the weak one,' she thought happily 'he'll be fun to throw around.' She laughed maniacally at the thought.

Jason felt the blade scratch his visor, and then his nose. But he held his ground. His morph wouldn't last very long, but he had decided a long time ago that if he was going to die, it would be defending his friends. His morph vanished again and he said "Bring it, you sorry sack of shit." Just as he had commanded her, she leapt from where she stood and began thrusting her sword down at him. When he was morphed he was lucky to block it, when he wasn't he was luck to dodge. The strain the morph was putting on his body was almost unbearable, but he had decided not to let that pain bother him like it had when they fought Goldar a few weeks back. Though he hadn't been paying it much attention, Andros and Ryan had also been helping him block , they knew he could lose his powers at any moment and be left defenseless.

Ryan tried to maintain a distance from the Pink Ranger, jabbing his lance at her, slicing her sides every so often. He saw that Jason and Andros had the close range attacks covered, and if anything happened to them, he knew that someone would have to get them back to base. He twirled his lance over his head and, grabbing the rounded end of it, jabbed right at the Pink Ranger's visor. Part of it cracked away, revealing a chocolate brown eye glaring at him. Suddenly it flashed dark pink and she knocked his lance away from him. He made a leap for it, catching it as he hit the ground. Quickly he rolled over and blocked the oncoming sword, pushing it upward and knocking the Pink Ranger on the ground. 'Finally,' he thought. He charged her, ready to thrust his lance through her heart, when she took her sword and sliced his lance in half. "Damn!"

Andros had been trying to land a strike her throughout the entire battle, but every time he came close she narrowly avoided it. While she was busy dodging Ryan's lance, and trying to get to Jason, she also avoided Andros' Spino-Ax. Andros stared at the Pink clad warrior and began to understand how the others were beaten so easily.

The Mystic Mother looked over the photos sent to her by Finster. As she studied them she began to understand why Zedd had been reborn. She didn't like what the hieroglyphs foretold. "This is not good…" she said to herself "not good at all…"

Karone and Ashley had gone to sit by Kat, and Tori and Hayley by Kira. Karone looked down at Kat, she didn't even resemble herself. Although all the blood had been washed away, her bones straightened, she just didn't look like Kat. Dana had told them that even with their most advanced medical equipment it would take months for Kat to heal. It was revealed upon further inspection that her bones hadn't merely been broken, they had been crushed. She'd be lucky if she could ever walk again.

'Who could've done this…' Ashley wondered 'Why Kat? She's one of the sweetest people I know…' Ashley had quit trying to hide her sobs behind her hand, she leaned into Karone, her future sister-in-law and let the tears flow.

They stained Karone's new denim jacket, but she didn't care. 'Just let it out, Ashley,' she thought as she patted Ashley on the back. Karone soon began to feel her own eyes sting with tears. 'I wish Tommy were here…'

Kira's recovery was about half way through. All the cuts, and gashes Alia had created with her swords were almost gone. 'At least we have some good news,' Tori thought.

Hayley had been standing in the corner, it hadn't taken her long to figure out just how Jason was going fight. He was going to risk his life. Again. Hayley choked back her own tears, as did Tori.

Zedd and Trixabus were discussing battle plans. "How are we going to get those gems?" Trixabus asked.

"Why are you asking me? You're the one wanted to search for them!" Zedd replied. The two brothers couldn't decide on a plan of attack. Eventually they called Golver, Rito, and Alia in to suggest ideas.

"Why don't we," Alia suggested "just attack them head on? The five of us go, accompanied by hundred upon thousands of fantomites, with those odds the Rangers won't stand a chance!"

Trixabus and Zedd both thought about her plan for a moment. "Fantastic!" Zedd cried out "How long will it take to make those fantomites?"

"About one Earth month," Alia confirmed.

"Perfect," Trixabus agreed "That will still leave us with a month to get the gems."

'Yeah, you love my great mind now, but just wait until I kill you Trixabus!'

"Rad!" called the Mystic Mother "Radogl!" she called again "Radogl!" Finally Rad came running into the room.

"Yes, Mother?" he asked in his deep, gravelly, yet elegant voice.

"Rad, I want you to take these photos and the translation's here to Thomas Oliver." Rad cringed at Tommy's name.

"But, but," he stuttered "but we are not on good terms with him Mother, I doubt he even knows we exist!"

"Oh, he knows. He knows," she said quietly "I'm not sure how, but he knows…"

Tommy's vision was blurry, he hadn't felt this disoriented in a while. He noticed his morph had dissolved. He pushed himself up, noticing for the first time that the ground felt warm, very warm. Too warm to have been his body heat alone. He forced himself to sit up. He rubbed his eyes, hoping his vision would clear up. When it finally did he found himself in the middle of a bright, hot desert. He then noticed the sand beneath him. "What happened?" he asked, shaking his head. "Where am I?" He stood, noticing the pain in his legs was gone.

As he wandered the desert he felt his strength returning, somehow it was returning and not fading. He heard various animal cries in the distance. They seemed to be coming from the ruins he could see. "What is going on? Is this another dream?" he asked. "I've had a test, I proved I was worthy for the Power!" he shouted to the sky "What more do you want from me?"

"Tommy," said a strange, yet familiar voice. It was deep, but not too deep "Tommy, you must reach the temple. Your true power lies within," it was a soothing deep voice. He continued walking in the direction of the temple, and the animal cries. He was surprised, the last time he had been in a dream-desert he had faced Zeo Ranger V. The closer he got to the temple, the more greenery he saw.

'What is this? The oasis in the desert?' he thought, fully re-energized. As he trudged on through the woods he could hear the cries getting louder, in the distance he saw the temple. It was still a far away.

After about another two hours of walking through the trees he finally found the base of the temple. "Finally," he said in an exhausted sigh of relief. "The cries are coming from inside,' he said "but, I don't see a-" he looked up "Oh crud." He had to climb up the wall. There was no entrance to the Temple, just some bricks strategically placed along the wall for climbing.

He grunted, and groaned on his way up. He had lost his footing once or twice and had to start over. He was almost to the top now, 'If I fall now,' he thought sourly 'I'll either die, or kill myself for falling while being this close to the top.' He reached for the top of the temple, his arm strained and the veins were beginning to show as though his skin was pale. He could hear the animal cries just over the wall. "Almost…" he grunted "Got it!" he cried as he grabbed hold of the top and hoisted himself up. When he looked inside the temple, he was amazed.

The Pink Ranger continued to fiercely attack Jason, she had already knocked Ryan out, Jason was weakening by the second. 'I don't know how much longer I can force this morph!' he cried within his head. He tried his best to block the Pink Rangers sword with his, but it either always fizzled out when his powers did, or he was too slow. His arms and legs now had cuts all over them, he had been lucky to avoid getting cut too deep.

Andros continued to help Jason out, but the two still had their hands full despite how long the Pink Ranger had been fighting. "Will she ever give up?" Andros cried, striking his Spino-Ax across her chest.

"No!" she hissed in response, her chocolate brown eye and the remaining half of her visor flashed a dark pink color and she kicked Andros full force into a nearby tree.

Ryan was waking up, his saw Andros get kicked into the tree, saw Jason struggling to remain morphed, and Andros jump back into the fight. Ryan pushed, forcing himself up. 'This is nothing,' he told himself 'I've suffered far worse!' he sprang back into the frenzy, punches and kicks flying. He managed to crack some more of the Pink Rangers helmet, though it didn't break. He looked over at Tommy, still lying unconscious where he had been kicked.

When Tommy looked over the edge of the temple he saw that it was Ninjor's temple. 'How did I not recognize this place?' he wondered. The outside of the temple was different, it was a lush, green forest instead of dry, drab desert like he remembered it. But the inside, the waterfall where he received his Ninjetti Power, looked the same.

"Tommy," the voice called "Tommy, jump down into the temple. There you will find the power needed to defeat your enemies." Tommy stabalized himself along the sloped wall and slid down the temple wall on his heels. When he landed on the bottom he saw a small pedestal, lying on the pedestal was a navy blue cloth. He unwrapped the cloth and inside he found his Green Gem, and Dragonzord Power Coin.

"I don't understand," he called "I already have these powers. How are they supposed to help?"

"Place the gem and the coin above your morpher,"

Tommy did as he was told, and watched the two mold together into his morpher, forming a new morpher for him.

"What is this?" he asked.

"That is your true power, Tommy. After morphing, focus all of your powers carefully and you will be granted a power far beyond that of any other you have held. Now, I must bid you farewell, Tommy."

Tommy saw something flash across the sky, it looked like…a giant head?

'Could that have been?' he asked, but shook the thought away.

Andros and the others didn't let up, they continued to fight the Pink Ranger, no matter how many time she knocked them back, they kept getting up. 'They're like cockroaches,' she thought. She took her sword and made the final hit on Jason, which was it. He couldn't sustain the morph any longer. She walked up to him, positioning her sword to strike the final blow when a, dagger of all things, blocked it.

She looked up to see a fully healed, fully energized Tommy. It was as if she had done no damage to him or his suit at all. "Thanks guys, really," he said "Now, take Jason to safety. He shouldn't have come."

"But what about you?" Andros asked, concerned about leaving Tommy again.

"I'll be fine" he said. He focused all his powers into one and the result ended with his Dragon Dagger having been replaced by a Dragon Sword, his shield turning black, crimson bands appearing around his arms and legs , and white stripe's appearing across the top of his helmet.

"Get going!" he shouted, Andros and Ryan quickly obeyed and took Jason back to the base to be healed. Tommy stared at the Pink Ranger.

'There's something familiar about that eye…'

He engaged her in combat again, this time he held nothing back. He took his sword and struck out at the Pink Ranger many times, it was so fast she couldn't defend against it. Tommy had the upper hand this time around. When it appeared he was going to win, he powered down to his normal Green Ranger form, took the Dragon Dagger, and made a final strike at the helmet. 'I have to know who she is,' he thought.

Slowly, the Pink Ranger's helmet began to crack, small pieces of it began falling off, followed by slightly larger chunks. He could see a head full of brown hair now. The visor peeled away as she rushed him, he quickly summoned the Zeo Sword and blocked her sword. He was now staring into two chocolate brown eyes. 'Those eyes…' he thought, a knot twisting in his stomach. He took the Zeo Sword and cut across the helmets lips. Again, tiny pieces fell, followed by slightly larger ones until he was staring directly into the face of the woman he'd wanted to kill for days now, and she was staring back at him.

He froze where he stood, he had expected anyone, _anyone_, but_ her_. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, he didn't want to belive it, he _couldn't _believe it. His throat dried, and in a weak, raspy voice he asked "Kimberly?"

A/N: So what was everyone's reaction?


	21. Chapter 21

**22**

It had been nearly three weeks since Tommy had discovered the Pink Rangers identity, and kept it to himself. His teammates knew he was lying, and Jason had surmised that it was Kim, and told everyone else. They all wept silently that sweet little Kimmie had become the Evil Pink Ranger, but they also knew they couldn't help her until she showed herself. Tommy had teleported out not long after discovering her identity. Other than Kat still being in a coma, everything had been peaceful; Trixabus hadn't launched any attacks, nor had Kim. Kira had fully healed, and everyone had gone back to Reefside. Tommy repaired the damage done to his house. He called Skull to see if Kim was there, to which he responded no, that she had up and left for France again. 'Well,' Tommy thought 'it seems she's trying keep the search for her narrowed to the just the Rangers. That's good, the police and such can't get in our way then.'

The date that Andros and Ashley had set for their wedding was fast approaching. They had thought of pushing it back, but Tommy insisted they have it. He had said that with all the shit that had happened that they needed a joyous occasion. Andros agreed with him, he'd waited over a decade to propose to her, truth is he'd been busy with both Tommy's missions and his own. He had been out rebuilding not only KO-35, but almost every planet that Dark Specter had conquered; and he wanted to actually be able to stick around after his proposal. He explained that to Ashley when she squealed "It took you long enough!" followed by "Yes, Andros!"

Ashley looked down at her engagement ring. It was beautiful. It was a KO-35 diamond, he had engraved the words "I love you" encircling the diamond, and there was a red heart on one side, and a yellow on the other. It sparkled brilliantly in the light as she held it up to examine it. 'I can't believe it,' she thought, a smile spreading across her face 'tomorrow's the big day.' Her smile widened and tears began to form in the corner of her eyes. 'Oh, Andros…what will you say when I tell you my wedding surprise?'

Tommy had long since been appointed Andros's best man, and Karone the maid of honor. Although he kept thinking about how Kim had nearly killed his team, he still managed to stay focused on the task at hand. He was in charge of Andros's bachelor party. Andros had said that he just wanted to gather his friends, and reminisce like Tommy, Jason, and Ryan had that one night. Andros had been disappointed that he'd missed it, so Tommy decided to make it up to him. 'I still can't believe it…' he thought sadly 'Kim. Of all people, that gem chose Kim.'

Ashley had told Karone that she didn't want any sort of party where drinking was involved. When Karone asked why not, Ashley told her the surprise she had in store for Andros. Karone had squealed and clapped her hands as she jumped up and down. "You're waiting until the reception to tell him though, why?"

"Because I want the whole Ranger community to see his face." She giggled and added "Plus I don't want him worrying about it during the ceremony."

"Kim…" Tommy said as his thoughts drifting back to after he shattered the Pink Rangers helmet. He had been in awe, barely able to speak. It then made sense to him, why she had targeted Kat, Karone, and Hayley at first. Inflicting the most damage on Kat, and then nearly killing her in another battle. He asked her why she was doing this, though he thought it stupid after it left his lips, the pink gem was making her do it.

Her response hadn't been what he had been expecting though. She giggled and said "Because you walked out on me, never tried to contact me, didn't believe me when I told you I didn't write the letter. Why would I have lied to you? I never had before!" She giggled some more and said "Not that it really matters. I just want you to suffer. Suffer the way I did. You'd better say goodbye to your friends, all of them." She picked a blade of grass up and began tearing it while she continued "I'm going to kill them all. Every. Single. One." She said the last words slowly for emphasis. Before he could say anything else, she had vanished.

"Alia, are we almost ready to attack?" Trixabus asked, growing impatient. The last three weeks had been so boring for him. He wanted to strike; he wanted to rip the Rangers limb from limb. Hear their pitiful screams and their pleading.

"Almost, just another day or two," she assured him.

'Two more days…' he thought crossly "two more days of Hell for me!' The palace had been relatively quiet; a few outbursts from Trixabus to Rito and Golver here and there, but other than it had been quiet. Zedd was recharging his evil energies, though it had yet to reach a century he had to recharge them since his power had been diminished by Zordon's Energy Wave. He had been forced to reside within his brother's mind until just a few weeks ago.

It was the night before the wedding and the guys had all returned to Ryan's condo in Mariner Bay. This time though the group included; Andros, Zack, Adam, Rocky, T.J., Carter, Justin, Carlos, Wes, Eric, Cole, Merrick, Zen-Aku, Shane, Dustin, Blake, Hunter, Cam, Conner, Ethan, Trent, Anton Mercer, Xander, Tyzzon, R.J., and Casey. Plus Jason, Ryan, and Tommy. Ryan's condo was filled.

"I'm telling you," Eric said as he set his beer down "being married to a Yellow Ranger, even a former Yellow, isn't easy," he took a sip of his beer "It's taxing. 'Do this', 'Do that.'" He said mockingly

He grinned and Wes looked at him and added "Excuse, but being married to a Pink Ranger is far worse. Have you noticed that they all share that same glare? I tell you, Jen is great and all, but man it's tough being married to her."

"You should try dating a Blue Ranger," Blake added, and most of the other guys looked at him like he was crazy "What? It's a girl guys! Geez."

"I have to agree with Eric," T.J. added "being married to a Yellow Ranger is tough, I mean Kelsey is always, always trying to get me to go rock climbing and stuff with her. Even after we reach the top of a mountain, she wants to immediately go climb another!" he laughed. As the night continued the guys kept joking about what color Ranger was the most difficult to date. Eric, T.J., Conner and Adam all agreed on yellow; while Wes, Xander, and Carter agreed with Pink. Tommy had said purple, joking about his own relationship with Karone, and R.J. stood up and claimed mock offense to that. Everyone laughed continued poking fun at each other and their relationships. Luckily no one brought up Kat and Kim, they had all been informed of Kat's situation and they had all been told not to bring Kim up, no matter how drunk they were.

'This is nice, it's fun.' Andros thought 'My last night as a single man.' He smiled at that last thought, glad he was spending the rest of his life with Ashley.

Ashley's party was about the same, except she got to go out shopping for lingerie and honeymoon clothes. She was joined by; Cassie, Karone, Kira, Tori, Tanya, Trini, Kelsey, Dana, Jen, Taylor, Alyssa, Lily, and Camille. Karone looked at what all Ashley had bought and said Andros would really love the lingerie on her, she also, jokingly, added "now he better be in one piece when you bring him home, understand me?" she held her finger in front of her, wagging it for emphasis. Ashley couldn't help but laugh and say that she understood, and that she'd try not to be too rough with him.

When they got back to Dana's condo they all sat and began talking about what Ashley had planned for a honeymoon. "Well," she began "I was thinking maybe we'd go to Hawaii, he's always said he wanted to go. Then afterwards we'll go on a cruise through the Caribbean. I've always wanted to go, ever since I was little." Though she, and everyone else, didn't show it, they were all really worried about Kat and Kim.

The next day was the wedding. 'Ashley did a fantastic job planning it,' Tommy noted. There were rose petals all over the floor and seats. The wedding itself was set in a church atop one of Mariner Bay's mountains. Behind the altar was a giant floor to ceiling window, with a mountain range in the distance. Lilies and roses decorated the entire room, and they had just a slight breeze entering so that it lightly blow Ashley's veil and dress.

Tommy looked over at Karone, she was very beautiful. Dressed in a light, silvery-purple dress, her hair pulled up in a bun, the same shade eye shadow really brought out her eyes. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. He saw her mouth the words "I love you, Dr. Oliver."

He mouthed back "I love you too, Karone." Her smiled widened and so did his own. Finally the music started, he looked up to see Andros smiling bigger than he ever had before. He leaned over to see Ashley coming down the aisle, all dressed in white. Her dress followed behind her, it was so shiny in the light that it looked like a trail of water following behind her and flowing up her body. Her veil hung over her face and stopped just below her chin.

Andros looked down the aisle and watched his beautiful bride-to-be slowly walk towards him. He tried his hardest to keep his smile inside, but he failed. He could feel his smile stretching as far as his face would let it. His heart raced, and he thought about how gorgeous she looked. His mind once again drifted back to when he first met her, and he felt his inward smile grow even larger. At last she stood before him. Through her veil he could see her smiling just as much as he was. As the preacher began reading, and they exchanged vows and rings he felt his heart beat even faster, he felt like he could've had a heart attack at any moment. The emotion he felt right now was like nothing he could ever describe in words. He just felt…happy. The time had some for him to say his vows.

"Ashley, when I first saw you my heart began to race. You were the most beautiful person I had ever seen. As we got to know each other, I realized…" The time had finally come, the time to say "I do," he found that saying it wasn't as hard as he thought it'd be. He'd been expecting his throat to dry and close up, making saying it impossible. But instead the words poured out of him like liquid. When he finished he thought he saw tears of joy running down her cheeks.

Ashley began reciting her vows "Andros…" she was interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle outside. The engine cut, and in came a man with short blonde hair, dressed in black pants, black jacket, and a silver shirt.

"Sorry I'm late bro," Zhane said as he took a seat in the crowd "Carry on!"

"Andros," Ashley began again "I love you. I always have. You drew my attention from the very first moment I saw you…" When she said "I do," she felt like she couldn't say the words fast enough. She smiled as he removed her veil; he saw that tears of joy had run down her cheeks. He took his finger and wiped the tears away, then wrapped her in his arms and leaned in for the kiss. She smiled and leaned in to kiss him too. 'I'm his,' she thought 'and he's mine.' Ashley smiled as they parted, this is the happiest she had ever felt. Andros smiled, he felt the same way.

Later on at the reception Tommy stood and raised his glass. "Let me just say," He began, looking over at Ashley's family and everyone from the Ranger community that had come "that in all thirty years of life, I have never seen a couple that seemed to belong together as much as these two." He smiled over at Andros and Ashley and continued "From the first time I saw them together I knew that they belonged together. I see the two of them living together for a very long time, and" he nodded to Ashley "raising a family together."

Ashley jerked slightly when Tommy nodded at her 'does he know?' she wondered 'It doesn't matter.' When Tommy finished his toast Ashley stood and said "Can I have everyone's attention please?" She clanked her fork against her glass "I have a very important announcement to make, one that no one knows," she glanced over at Karone who trying to contain her smile "not even Andros," she continued "Andros, Karone, you have two new members joining your family today," she rubbed her belly "Andros, sweetie, I'm pregnant."

Andros couldn't contain his smile as he stood and pulled Ashley into him, Karone stood and wrapped her arms around the both of them and said "I'm going to be an aunt!"

Andros smiled even wider as the realization that he was going to be a dad set in. "I'm gonna be a dad…" he said.


	22. Chapter 22

**23**

After the reception had ended Andros and Ashley pulled Tommy off to the side.

"Tommy," Andros began "we've been thinking about the honeymoon."

"What about it?" Tommy asked as he leaned against the door frame.

"Well, we've been thinking that maybe we shouldn't take it yet. I mean, with Kim, and Kat and everything."

Tommy's head snapped up "How do you know about Kim?" he asked, clearly surprised.

"Jason, he said that he could see something bothering you, and gathered that it was Kim. Kim's the Pink Ranger, isn't she?" Tommy nodded, but gave no explanation as to why he kept it to himself. Andros knew though, Tommy hadn't wanted to worry any of his friends. He felt responsible for this, and vowed to fix it.

"Look," Tommy said, pushing off of the wall and placing a hand on Andros's shoulder "you should go on the honeymoon. It'll be good for you."

"But-" Ashley began, but Tommy raised his hand to stop her.

"But nothing, Ashley. You two are married, have a kid on the way, you deserve some down time." He looked over at Ashley and said "According to Kat, the power can't be transferred, but it can be copied. I'll need the two of you to find three replacements. One temporary, and two permanent."

"Who do you want?" Andros asked innocently.

"That's why I'm leaving the decision to you. I want you to pick who you feel would benefit the team the most. Ashley, I'm sorry. But your tenure as a Prehistoric Ranger is over. You have other responsibilities now that are just as important." He pointed her belly "You have to take care of that baby. Andros, when you feel ready I want you to return to the team. But it'll be on your terms, not mine."

Andros nodded and held Ashley, it would be weird fighting on a team without her. But he knew the baby came before Rangering. "Tommy," she said "I know already who I want as my replacement."

Rad had been taking his time in getting the photos to Tommy, though his evil side had been separated from him, he still didn't care too much for the Ranger. It was the rivalry the two shared that made him dislike Tommy, not hatred. It was the day of Andros and Ashley's wedding when he finally arrived in Reefside. He made his way to Tommy's house and saw a sign that said "Out of town, back in a few days."

"Oh great," he said "Now I have to wait on that dinkledork."

Golver entered the throne room and looked up at Zedd and Trixabus "Masters," he growled "tomorrow we will be ready to launch our attack."

"Excellent," Zedd hissed, balling his hand into fist in front of his face "those pathetic Rangers won't be able to survive this attack."

"Remember the mission, little brother," Trixabus said, turning to face Zedd "we must get our hands on those gems. Then, we will be restored to our former glory!" he began laughing.

Golver growled "Er, why does Lord Baneero want the gems?"

Trixabus stopped laughing and said "The gems have three different functions," he explained "they can create meddlesome Rangers, as they have, restore our original bodies," he pointed between Zedd and himself "and unlock the gate to the Shadow World, where we shall release our fallen comrades and take over the universe! Dark Specter's dream will be realized at last!"

"Speaking of Dark Specter," said a female voice from behind the thrones "say hello to his and Maligore's child of evil." She placed and arm around each of the brothers "I have to say, the palace has seen better days. It was a cinch to get in here." She giggled "But then again, that could be because you have the worst guard ever. She literally fell at my feet as I entered. I didn't even lift a finger." She giggled insanely.

Tommy had teleported to his basement to retrieve the Sword of Light that had been used to copy Jason, Zack, and Trini's power over to Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. When he returned to the church he saw that Andros and Ashley had brought Jason, Ryan, and Kira back with them. "Tommy," Andros said "I chose Jason to carry the Power of the Spinosaurus."

"And I chose Kira to carry the Power of the Pteranodon." Ashley said then added "And we both chose Ryan to hold Kat's Prehistoric Shark Power. We think she would have chosen him," she smiled.

Tommy nodded and agreed wholeheartedly with their choice in replacements. "Remember," he said to Andros and Ashley "you two will continue to bear the Power yourselves." They nodded in response and Tommy held the Sword to the sky, and after a few flashes of light the Power transferred to the three new members of the team. Tommy gave Ashley a hug and said "Enjoy your honeymoon, and Andros," he held his hand out and Andros shook it "don't let her eat you alive," he teased.

Andros smiled and said "You take good care of my sister."

"I will," Tommy said smiling.

"And good luck with Kimberly. If you need any help, any at all, just call me." Tommy nodded to his friends as they left to say goodbye to everyone.

'Kim…' he thought 'why you? Why did that gem have to pick you?' he shook the thoughts of his past love out of his head and teleported back to his basement to place the sword back. He went to check the rest of his house to make sure that Kim hadn't demolished it again when he heard someone, a man, grumbling outside his door. He slowly opened his door and said "Can I help you?" He looked at the man standing before him, he was dark, but not African American, more of Indian dark, had long black hair, and a hint of red in his eyes. He was dressed in a gold, long sleeve T-shirt, gold pants, and black boots. 'Well,' he thought 'if he's trying dress exotically, he certainly pulled it off.'

"Tommy? Tommy Oliver?" the man asked in a somewhat deep, gravelly, yet elegant voice.

"Do I know you?" he asked, feeling a little guilty that he didn't recognize his guest if he should have.

"Not on good terms…" the man said "My name is Radogl, Rad for short."

'Radogl…' Tommy thought about that name for a moment then said "Goldar!" he jumped into a defensive stance, ready to fight.

"No, Radogl. I am Goldar's good side, just like the Mystic Mother is Rita's and Edd Lerodz was Zedd's"

'So, my hunch about them having good sides was right after all.' He thought. "What do you mean 'was Zedd's?"

Rad let out a long sigh "Trixabus kidnapped him, and now Zedd has been reborn. He was studying these caves," he held the box of pictures and translations out to Tommy.

Every fiber of Tommy's being was screaming 'Attack him you idiot!' but he remembered Goldar's spirit had merged into Golver's body. 'Maybe he's telling the truth. If he is, we're in trouble.' Tommy begrudgingly accepted the box and opened it to view its contents.

"When he was taken," Rad continued "Mystic Mother was able to decipher them. She didn't like what she read though. She thinks you may hold the Power to stop it."

"What is it?" Tommy asked. 'Rita, now there's a horror story. I still can't believe that she had good in her.' He shuddered at the memory of the evil witch who had plucked him from his ordinary high school life and made him what he is today. 'I have to admit…' he thought sullenly 'if she hadn't made me her Evil Green Ranger, then I never would have met half the people I have, I wouldn't be who I am today. I guess I should thank her for that someday. Someday.'

"It tells of a coming of evil."

"Kinda already got that," he replied snidely "Trixabus, Pink Ranger, and now Zedd."

"More evil then," Rad said, growing impatient with Tommy's attitude "Why do you think they want the gems?"

"To make themselves look prettier?"

"To regain their full forms as well as release the evil that the Shadow World contains you arrogant punk."

'The Shadow World,' Tommy thought. He'd heard Carter and Ryan talk of it before. The way it sounded it was desolate place, devoid of any good. Apparently Rita's evil side had been banished there.

"Well what am I supposed to do!?" Tommy shouted, throwing his arms up. 'Damn! Don't I have enough to deal with? Two very powerful, very evil beings, an evil ex girlfriend, a friend who may be on her last leg, and now this? What's next!'

"Tommy," Rad said, trying to calm his voice "you must finish off Zedd and Trixabus before Baneero reaches Earth. If he reaches Earth and they are still alive and have the gems, then they will open the gate to the Shadow World. You cannot allow that to happen."

Tommy teleported away back to the church, leaving a baffled Rad. "Well that went well." He remarked as he teleported back to the Mystic Realm.

From the Mystic Realm the Mystic Mother had been monitoring Rad's conversation with Tommy. "Oh Tommy," she said sadly "I'm sorry for forcing this life upon you. I was so different then, I do hope you can one day forgive me…"

Meanwhile, deep in space…

"Gruumm, how much longer till we reach Earth?" Baneero asked, yawning from the boredom.

"One Earth month, sire," Gruumm rasped. 'You just wait. One day I'll be giving the orders…'

"Bring Trixabus and Zedd up on the screen." He said absently. A moment later the images of the two brothers popped up.

"Ah, Baneero," Zedd said "we have obtained one gem. The other six should fall into our hands very soon."

"Good work," Baneero said, playing with his hair "but just where did you get the one?"

"The Pink Ranger has entered an agreement with us. She has allowed us the use of her gem, as long we capture the Rangers and allow her to torment them. Slowly."

"Very good. I shall be arriving at the palace in one Earth month. I do hope you'll have the others by then."

"We will, rest assured," Trixabus cut in.

"Good."

Tommy returned to the wedding, and gathered his team, taking them back to his place. He explained what had taken so long and who had gotten his attention. "What?!" Jason shouted "Rita, Goldar, and Zedd? They're still alive?" Tommy nodded and explained about just what Zordon's wave had accomplished.

"It didn't destroy anyone, it merely washed away the evil and threw it in a sort of jail." He swallowed some of his juice "But now, Zedd has returned. He, along with Trixabus and Baneero, plans to open the gate and let the evil that Zordon's Wave washed away, back out."

"How long until Baneero reaches Earth?" Ryan asked.

"One month. We need to destroy Trixabus and Zedd. For good."

"…And we do that, how?" Kira asked.

Tommy didn't have a plan for that yet, but he would soon.

"Alia!" Trixabus cried, the young woman entered the throne room, she still couldn't believe that Kim had turned her spell around on her. "Alia," Trixabus said as she stood before him "it's time." She perked up and an evil grin spread across her face. The time had come, time for the attack on the Rangers that she had suggested a month ago. She had hundreds of fantomites ready, around six monsters, plus herself, Golver, Trixabus, and Zedd. This was going to be fun.

Meanwhile at the Aqua Base Dana continued to look after Kat, she hadn't gotten any better. She was still comatose. 'Poor Katherine…' Dana thought as she ran her hand over Kat's head. She had left the wedding early to come back and check on her patient. Kat had been comatose for nearly a month now. The only improvement in her condition was that her bones had begun to heal. Machines were all that was keeping her alive.

Not only did she now hold Ranger Powers again, but Kim had the Power of both Dark Specter and a trace amount of Maligore's within her. She had left the moon to finish what she started with Kat. She landed atop a skyscraper in Mariner Bay. "Now which way to the Aqua Base…" she said, looking for her destination. "Ah," she squeaked "there it is!" she began to giggle and smile as she thought of Kat's dying breath.


	23. Chapter 23

**24**

The time had come, Trixabus and Zedd were ready to make their move. After a month of careful planning it was now time to strike, "Are you ready to go?" he asked Zedd. Zedd nodded in reply and called for Alia and Golver to get the troops ready.

"They're ready now," Alia informed them a few minutes later.

"Good, good," Zedd said as he polished his staff, he stood and shouted "Death, to the Power Rangers!" Together he and Trixabus transported their army down to Earth, they landed in the center of Reefside. "Now, go! Begin the devastation!" Zedd shouted.

Andros and Ashley had left for Hawaii the day before, and Tommy had wasted no time in filling in their replacements on the situation at hand. He told Ryan and Kira just what exactly was going on, and training them, along with Jason, on how to use their new powers. Tommy and Karone trained Ryan and Kira, and Hayley trained Jason. They were using the Aqua Base's simu-deck when the alarm sounded. "Whats going on?" Tommy demanded.

"Zedd and Trixabus," Dr. Rawlings said "They're here on Earth..."

"Where at?" Tommy growled, he had been looking forward to this fight. To finally settling things with Zedd.

"They're in," she paused "Reefside."

Tommy and the others quickly morphed and teleported to Reefside, when they arrived they saw more than the scanners in the Aqua Base had picked up. Not only were Zedd and Trixabus in town, but so was Golver, that girl with the pink hair, an army of fantomites, and at least two or three monsters. "Oh, shit." Ryan declared as they landed "This does not look good." Ignoring his statement, Tommy charged into the fray, summoning both his Zeo and Turbo Swords. He cut down the line of fantomites, waiting for each one to grab him before slicing its head off. About halfway through he ran into some sort of new foot soldier, it resembled one of the old Putties, except it was black and his swords simply clanked and bounced off its skin.

"What the Hell?" he asked in surprise as he continued to cut it. Seeing it was having no effect he tried a series of punches, still nothing. "Zeo Flying Power Kick!" he shouted as he jumped up and came down on it. "Damn it all!" he cursed. 'Why won't anything work?'

Ryan and the others were in the back, destoying as many fantomites as they could. It was difficult because a majority of them would get their attention while the rest attacked them. "What is this? A fricken invasion?" Ryan yelled, he summoned his Prehistoric Shark blasters and began firing at the fantomites, but it was useless, the blasts just went right through them, leaving no damage done to them at all. "This is useless!" Ryan jumped up out of the crowd and came face to face with Alia. "Well, please tell me I can hit you,"

She smiled sweetly and said "If you can catch me," she became a pink blur and kicked him the back. He turned in mid-air and began firing at her. She quickly drew her her swords and deflected all of his blasts back at him. "Not so easy."

Jason was having a hard time adjusting to his new Powers, he had gotten used to forcing his body to do something and forcing the morph to stay together. To have a steady flow of Power was, intoxicating. It felt great. He found himself moving faster, striking harder, and doing a great more damage to the fantomites than anyone else had. He had almost caught up with Tommy, when he did he punched the black rock hard Putty and felt his arm go numb. "Well thats never happened." Tommy summoned his Brachio-staff as slammed it against the Putty, to his surprise it cracked. Also to his surprise, the Putty grabbed him and threw him up in the air.

He cried out as he felt something cut his back and drag him to a nearby rooftop. When he landed he stood and saw Goldar standing before. "Apparently I missed the costume change?" he joked, though he knew that now wasn't the time.

Hayley had summoned a new type of throwing needles, these exploded on contact. She would hold onto them and when a fantomite would get close to her, she'd stab him with it and shove him into others, while also backing herself up in the process. The explosion took about three or four out at a time. "Well," she said after she picked herself up from being thrown to the ground "this is certainly going smoothly."

Kira continued to fight them the old fashioned way, wait for them to touch you, then knock their head off. It was working well for her, until she came up on another of the black Putties. "Oh shit," she said, staring up at him. He stood a good two feet over her head. She summoned her Pterano-Sword and began trying to cut him, but to no avail. Her sword merely bounced off of its skin. She then used her old Ptera-Scream and directed it at the Putty, who fell to a pile of dust. "Sound," she said "that's what works on them" She quickly leapt over to Jason and unleashed her scream upon his Putty, who fell to dust as well.

"A little more warning next time!" he shouted.

"Sorry!"

Karone had gone to face Rito, she combined her Rapto-Daggers to form a Rapto-Sword, and began fighting him. Their swords clashed, and after the first time she knocked him on his ass and threw his sword away, he ran. "Coward."

Tommy had his hands full with Goldar, the big gold baboon was tougher then he remembered. He matched Tommy blow for blow, their swords often created sparks as they clashed. "Tommy," he said "just give up. Face it, we've been enemies for almost twenty years, with neither of us backing down. Just surrender, I promise to kill you quickly," he laughed, thinking 'Quickly for me is ten years for you!'

"Never," Tommy shouted, his anger had begun to show. The anger at not having the pink gem secured safely, at the fact that his ex girlfriend was out to kill him and his friends, and at the fact that his old enemies had resurfaced. 'Will I ever be rid of these two?' he wondered. He switched back over to his Brachio-Staff and began blocking Goldar's sword with it as he punched the gold baboon in the nose repeatedly. Blood trickled down his snout and into his mouth, and he simply laughed.

"Yes, Tommy, yes!" Zedd laughed "let that anger out, all that rage!"

"Zedd," Trixabus said "do you honestly think that Pink Ranger can be trusted?"

"I've never trusted anyone below me. So no, I don't. But, it is easy access to one of the gems." he assured his brother "once we have them all, we'll kill her."

Ryan was still trying to blast his opponent, but Alia proved to be too fast for him. She had pulled her swords out, and he really wished he had a sword or a lance. 'That's it!' he powered down and called out "Titanium Power!" he then summoned his lance and began to match her blow for blow. He managed to jab his lance into her leg, causing her to fall. As he came closer to finish her though, she took her swords and wrapped them around him.

Giggling she said "Fooled you. Now, die!" she ripped the swords off, cutting him in various places. When he was no longer held up by the swords, he collapsed. He stared up at the sky, it looked so peaceful.

'Who is she?' he wondered 'Why is she so tough?'

Alia was still giggling when Karone jumped up behind her and ripped through Alia's shoulder with her Rapto-Sword. She cried out in agony as the sword ripped through her flesh. "Who the Hell?" she turned and faced Karone, who was already preparing for another strike. She quickly blocked the oncoming blade with her own.

Ryan awoke in a haze of silver, 'where am I? he wondered as he walked through the haze. The ground felt like a swamp, everything was mushy. Beneath his helmet he had begun to sweat. "My God, it's so humid here. Where am I?" He almost stumbled over something as he walked. He stopped and looked down at what it was he had kicked. To his surprise, it was the Red Lightspeed Ranger! "Carter!" he shouted "Carter, are you alright?" He picked the body up, removed the helmet, and checked for a pulse. Carter was dead. Silently, he placed his friend back on the ground and continued walking. "I'll kill whoever did ths..." Not far from Carter's body was another, it was Joel's. Ryan grew angrier with every step he took. He eventually ran up on Chad, Kelsey, and even Dana's bodies. At the end of the line was the Titanium Ranger. 'What?' he thought as he approached himself. Suddenly, the Titanium Ranger stood up.

"Ryan, see what you have done?" the Titanium Ranger asked, pointing over to the line of bodies.

"I didn't do this!"

"Oh," the Titanium Ranger said, its shape reforming "but you did." Said Diabolico.

Ryan's could feel his mouth twitching, this was a trick. It had to be. He had just been on the roof fighting that girl. Nothing here made any sense to him, what was going on?

"You see," Diabolico said, shifting back into the Titanium Ranger "what you did? Remember, there is evil in your heart. You were raised a demon, you think you can put that behind you?"

Ryan's teeth clenched, his fists tightened and for the first time since he began speaking with the Titanium Ranger he noticed his Powers and morphers were gone. "What happened to my Powers?"

The Titanium Ranger laughed "You must lay me to rest before you claim the new Powers granted to you."

"I put you to rest when I joined Lightspeed!" he shouted, frustrated that he didn't know what was going on. Where was the pink haired girl?

The Titanium Ranger laughed some more "No, you just think," he jumped and kicked Ryan in the chest "that you did."

Tommy had been fighting Goldar for what seemed liked hours now, but in reality it had only been a few minutes, 'This ugly bastard just won't die!' He switched over to Saba and and his Zeo Sword and began closing in on Goldar, blocking his sword with his Zeo Sword, and striking him with Saba. After a few more blows he managed to take Saba and strike Goldar in hs heart. Goldar quickly vanished in a flash of gold light.

"Is he dead?" Jason asked, hopeful as he joined Tommy on the rooftop.

"No," Tommy shook his head "I don't think so."

Ryan continued his fight with the Evil Titanium Ranger, the Ranger kept blocking his attacks. 'Damn!' he cursed 'It's like he knows what I'm going to do before I do!'

The fight had weaved in and out of the dead Rangers bodies, Ryan looked behind him for an instant. He was almost Carter's body. 'Just a few more seconds...Got it!' he grasped Carter's blaster firmly in his hands and fired right at the Evil Titanium Ranger's heart. A smoldering hole had been put in the suit, it shifted into the Blue Prehistoric Ranger.

"You are the second person I have tested. Though your gem and your Powers are merely copies, you must still be tested."

Ryan looked confused, Tommy hadn't told him about this "Tested for what?" he asked sternly.

"To prove that you are worthy enough for the gems Power. You are, but," the suit paused, focusing its energy into its right hand until a Shark-Lance appeared "here is a weapon more suitable for you."

"Uh, thanks. But how exactly did I pass?" Ryan asked, still very confused.

"You proved once and for all, to yourself and to me that you are no longer evil. Now go," Ryan felt a wave of water swallow him whole. When he looked again, he was back on the rooftop where Karone was fighting with the girl.

Slowly he stood, he saw he was once again the Blue Prehistoric Ranger, but there was a subtle difference. His suit was a navy blue, not a light blue as it had previously been. He could feel the Shark-Lance in his right hand. 'Maybe there was some truth to that dream...' He took his lance and aimed it at the girl's backside. He ran towards her, and before she knew he was there, his lance pierced her back and she cried out in agonizing pain before retreating. He looked around and saw that the fantomites had greatly diminished. "Karone, I see one, two, three monsters. I'll take the big ugly one." He said as he scanned the area.

"Which ugly big one?"

"The one that looks like a wolf. Tell Kira and Hayley to take the giant frog, and you take the last one. But hurry, I don't see Goldar anywhere, so Tommy and Jason may be after Zedd and Trixabus now. Go!"

Tommy and Jason had searched until they found Zedd and Trixabus standing in the center of the city. They landed on the same rooftop as the two brothers. "Well hello again Thomas," Zedd said to his old enemy.

"Go back to Hell," Tommy growled. He had every intention of killing the alien Lord here and now.

"Now that's no way to speak to your guests," Trixabus said as he aimed his staff at Tommy and fired a bolt of lightning from it.

"You're no guests of ours!" Jason said as he summoned his Spino-Ax and leapt at the two, scratching the chrome skeleton on Zedd's body.

"You insolent fool!" Zedd cried as he fired a flurry of red lightning bolts at the two "How dare you attack me!" Tommy and Jason dodged and blocked the lightning with their weapons. "I have them brother, go, find the others!" In a flash of purple Trixabus vanished.

"What? No!" Tommy shouted he watched Trixabus vanish. He attacked Zedd with his Brachio-Staff and later his Turbo Sword. Neither one affected Zedd for some reason. It was as if he had become stronger since their last encouter. He couldn't even shatter his staff.

Back at the Aqua Base; Kim had quietly snuck in. She had entered when the base surfaced to let Dr. Rawlings and Joel leave. She ran in the door before it closed and remained hidden until she wa sure it was safe to come out. She quickly, yet silently made her way to Med Ward.

"Ah," she smiled and squeaked a little as she saw Kat hooked up to all those machines "just so beautiful!" She placed her hand across her chest and sighed. "Okay, that's enough of taking in the scenery."

She walked up to Kat and said "Hello again, Kitty-Kat. What's that?" she cupped her hand around her ear and listened "Oh that's right, I forgot. You can't flap that big mouth of yours anymore, can you?" she said mock sympathy. "Allow me to make it permanent."

She placed her hand over Kat's throat and began choking her. Kim laughed as she watched her face turn red, then purple. Her heart rate had begun to rise and a few doctors entered the room to stabilize her, but Kim had caught them with her other hand and snapped their necks. She moved too fast for any of them to avoid her. She looked down at Kat and licked her lips saying "Mmm. Almost sweet, sweet Katherine. Almost." She intensified her grip around Kat's neck, until she felt the cold hard crunch of her neck being crushed.

Kim giggled at the sound and said "Shh, shh, it's all better now Kitty-Kat." she giggled more insanely after that. She lifted Kat's arm up and said "Thank you for lovely gem, bitch."


	24. Chapter 24

**25**

Tommy and Jason were soon joined Karone in their battle against Zedd. Tommy had both his Zeo and his Turbo Swords drawn, Jason had his Spino-Ax, and Karone had her Rapto-Sword. Even combined they weren't faring so well against him, his staff was longer than any of their weapons and was able to block them all at once. Jason struck at him with the Spino-Ax, and Zedd shot a bolt of lightning at him which sent him sprawling on the ground, his chest smoldering. "Jason," Tommy yelled "are you alright?"

"Yeah," Jason winced in pain "It's just a minor burn."

Karone took her sword and clashed it against Zedd's staff, she tried to push him back, and he her. Finally she jumped back and let Tommy go after him. Tommy wielded his swords like a master swordsman. He's lash out with the Zeo Sword, have it blocked, then jab the Turbo Sword at Zedd. 'It's a good thing I had so many swords for weapons,' he thought as he continued his assault. Neither side was backing down, Zedd shot multiple lightning bolts at Tommy, who dodged most of them. His shield was beginning to burn from being hit so many times. Jason came up behind Zedd, swinging his ax across the chrome spinal cord on Zedd's back. He screamed in agony as he felt the blade against his back. He turned his back on Tommy and stuck the bottom of his staff into Jason's shoulder.

Jason tried his best to keep from letting his cry from leaving his mouth, but the pain was too great. Tommy took his swords and stuck them through Zedd's arm, forcing him to drop his staff. Karone ran over and picked it up, hitting the villain with his own bolt of lightning. Zedd lashed out at Karone, his pointed finger tips leaving four scratch marks across her helmet, and another four across her stomach as he tore her suit and reclaimed his staff.

Meanwhile, Trixabus had vanished and reappeared before Kira and Hayley, the two Rangers had just finished off their monster, leaving Ryan with the only monster left. "Well hello there White Ranger, Black Ranger," Trixabus said as he took a bow in mock politeness "so nice to finally meet you." He took his staff and pulled on the "T" at the top, out from the staff slid a thin blade. He threw the staff at Kira to distract her while he ran up and stuck his sword through her leg.

"Does that hurt?" he asked, twisting the blade. Hayley took her explosive throwing needles and threw about ten or into his back. When the smoke cleared she saw him facing her while Kira grabbed her leg and tried to hold a scream in.

'Not good,' she thought 'those explosive needles are the strongest weapons I have, and they didn't even phase him!' Trixabus took his sword, held it by the blade and shot Hayley with a bolt of lightning that sent up in the air, and crashing back onto the roof. He laughed, how his minions had had so much trouble was beyond him. Ryan showed up, having just defeated his monster, and rammed his Shark-Sword through Trixabus's shoulder. Trixabus just turned and made 'humph' sound as he pulled the blade out and threw it down onto the roof.

"Oh boy," he said as he quickly grabbed his sword and rolled over to the ladies. Kira couldn't walk, her leg had been broken by the blade. Ryan silently curse himself for not showing up earlier. He took Kira's Pterano-Sword and began his assault on Trixabus as Hayley struggled to stand up. 'No,' he thought 'stay down. You'll be safer...'

Zedd took his staff and hooked his "Z" emblem into Jason's outfit and threw him from the roof. Jason hit the ground with a thud, the sound echoing in his helmet. 'Aw man,' he thought 'he's tougher than I remember him being...'

"You know, Jason" Zedd said as he jumped down to the street with Jason "I have to agree with my wife. You did always look better in red. Too bad your new found career is at an end." He stuck his staff in Jason's other shoulder just as Tommy and Karone jumped down behind him. Tommy summoned his Powers into one and brought out his Dragon Sword. His speed increased as he ran over to Zedd and began striking his sides multiple times. Zedd let out a sound of pain each time before finally falling to the ground. Zedd pulled himself to his feet and shook his head.

'How did Tommy get to be so strong all of a sudden?' he wondered as he turned to look at the newly styled Green Ranger. He fired his traditional lightning bolt at him, but Tommy simply deflected it with his sword and sent it back at Zedd.

Trixabus was having the easiest time ever with the new Blue Ranger. Nothing Ryan did could affect him. He stabbed, cut, and tried to beat down Trixabus, but nothing worked. He simply stood there, bored. When he finally let his assault up for a moment Trixabus said "Is it my turn now?" and fired a wave of purple energy from his word that knocked Ryan out of his morph and unconscious. "Pitiful." He walked over to Hayley who was trying to keep Kira from going into shock.

"Don't worry about her," Trixabus said as he raised his sword into the air. "She'll be asleep soon enough." He sent the same kind of wave washing over them, knocking them unconscious and out of morph. He bent over and plucked Hayley's gem from her morpher. "I have no need for your gems," he said to the unconscious Kira and Ryan.

"I could kill you now, but I told the Pink Ranger I'd let her have some fun. And I am a man," he laughed "of my word."

Within the Mystic Realm Rita watched hopelessly as Tommy and the others were being defeated by her husband and his brother. 'Tommy...' she thought 'I'm sorry.'

"Rad!" she called "Radogl Baboonus! Get in here!" A few seconds later the gold clad warrior entered, followed by Finster, Quttas, and Bobao.

"Yes, Mystic Mother, what is?" he asked, his elegant voice soothing her soul and reminding her of Edd.

"I need for you to go back to Reefside."

"What for?" he asked, puzzled.

"I need to help Tommy and his friends. I'm afraid they are losing to Trixabus and Zedd." She said sadly.

"I have no interest in helping any more than I already have," Rad said snidely.

"You will go, and you will help him. And just to make sure you don't lolligag around like last time," she pointed at Rad and he vanished, only to reappear in her viewing globe beside Tommy "I'll send you myself."

"Huh?" Tommy said as a flash of gold appeared next to him "Rad? What're you going here?"

"Rad? You mean Goldar?" Jason weezed as he pulled himself to his feet. 'Heh,' he thought 'after dealing with the pain of forcing my morph you'd think a couple shoulder stabs would be nothing to me.' He cringed as he summoned his Spino-Ax back to him.

"Mystic Mother sent me," he grumbled, clearly unhappy with her. "Now get back to back with me, Trixabus is coming back, and bringing a small army of fantomites with him."

"How do-"

"I just do!" he snapped "Now quickly, before they arrive!" Tommy, Jason, and Karone quickly obeyed and formed a small circle, each had the others back. A few minutes later Rad's prediction came true. Trixabus arrived back from his fight with the others, and with another army in tow.

"Well hello again," Trixabus said, behind him stood Goldar, Alia, and Rito along with over a dozen fantomites. "Your friends didn't put up much of a fight. I do hope you can do better."

"You bastard!" Tommy spat "Did you?"

"Relax," Trixabus said chill voice "they are alive."

'Only because I promised them to the Pink Ranger,' he thought, laughing inside.

Rad eyed Goldar fiercely, and Goldar him. They each knew who the other was. It was like two sides of the same coin; Rad the good side, and Goldar the evil side. Goldar snarled at Rad. "Break!" Tommy shouted, and the four warriors broke their circle and each went after someone. Tommy easily took the fantomites out, Rad went to head to head with Goldar, Karone took Alia, and Jason fought Rito. Zedd and Trixabus jumped back up on the roof and watched their minions handle their enemies.

Rad met Goldar's sword strike for strike, familiarizing himself with his evil sides fighting style. The two fought without so much a break to breath. Rad plowed his sword through Goldar's arm, and Goldar sliced open Rad's. Blood ran down their arms, and into a pool of blood on the ground. Rad kicked him in the snout and grabbed him by his hair before he could fall back. "I've got ya now, ya ugly ass ape," he growled and began punching Goldar in his snout until he heard the crack that told him it was broken. He let go of the gold plated baboon and thrust his sword into his stomach. Goldar howled in pain so loud that the windows of the building trembled. Goldar pulled the sword out of his gut, making a scraping sound as the blade slowly scraped his armor. When he had it out and his blood began pouring in a steady stream, he retreated back to the palace to heal. Rad looked up and saw that Tommy had finished with the fantomites and was now directing his attack towards the brothers back on the roof.

Karone was fending off Alia's swords with her own sword. She had been cut a few times by Alia's swords extending, but she was beginning to see a pattern. Strike, strike, strike, extend. 'Okay, so the fourth time she swings it it extends.' Karone counted the swings and on the fourth, she jumped and avoided the sword as it extended out. But to her surprise it curved upward and chased after her, wrapping around her leg and slamming her to the ground.

"What? You thought it only extended forward?" Alia laughed "I can make these babies go which ever way I please."

'Shit!' Karone cursed 'how could I not have anticipated this?' Alia's sword tightened around her leg and she felt it dig into her skin, a yelp escaped he rmouth, but she quickly caught it. Alia looked at her and smirked. Getting her focus back, Karone took her own sword and slammed it down on Alia's as hard as she could, and to her surprise the sword broke on its link. Alia glowered at Karone and dropped her now useless sword and extended the other.

Karone quickly slapped it away with her own sword and ran towards Alia, getting up in her face and planting her sword in Alia's shoulder, just inches from her heart. "Now that was a warning, the next strike goes throught your black hole."

Alia let out a quick cry of pain but soon refocused and glared at Karone through her visor. Karone twisted her blade, and Alia vanished in a puff of pink smoke.

Andros and Ashley were on their honeymoon in Hawaii. They had gone out out to the beach for the day, leaving their morphers inside the hotel room. As they swam a fantomite teleported in and stole the gems from their morphers. That night when they returned to clean up and go out to dinner, they found their morphers looked different, de-energized. "What's going on?" Andros asked.  
Ashley shrugged her shoulders and said "Maybe Tommy was wrong, maybe Jason and Kira did inherit all the Power." She grabbed a towel and began to dry her hair.  
Andros shook his head and said "I doubt that, I'd better-"  
"Andros don't you dare," Ashley said in a warning tone, holding her finger to his face for emphasis "It's our first night on our honeymoon and I want to have fun, call Tommy in the morning. Now, we go to dinner and we eat fine lobster!"  
Andros set his communicator back on the table and thought 'Damn, she's beautiful. And I'm married to her. I'm going to be a dad...' he smiled at those thoughts and she asked what he was smiling about, to which he replied "Just my life right now." He pulled her close to him and leaned in for a passionate kiss, which she readily gave him.  
She playfully slapped his arm and said "Cut it out. We'll be late for dinner." He frowned and she added "But I promise you'll never forget tonight." She bit her lower lip and smiled. He smiled even wider than he had been while thinking about his life.

Tommy and Rad were attacking Trixabus and Zedd, soon they were joined by Jason who explained that Rito had once again taken off. Karone had run over and woke Ryan up, and the two joined the battle while Hayley tended to Kira. Ryan, Karone, and Jason fought with Trixabus while Tommy and Rad fought Zedd.

Zedd whirled his staff around and struck at Rad with it, who jumped back to avoid it before knocking it away and attacking with hs sword. He took it and sliced Zedd's shoulder, and arm while Tommy took his Dragon Sword and jumped over Zedd's head, sticking his sword through his back and out his chest. Zedd howled at the throbbing pain in his chest. He turned and fired his strongest lightning bolt at Tommy, he took it in his shield, which in turn burnt up. "Damn!" he shouted "That was the last my shield could handle!" Zedd stabbed Tommy in his right arm with his staff, and Tommy focused his energies on healing the wound quickly. He took his sword and added another scar to Zedd's chrome ribs.

Trixabus took his sword and cut Jason up, he fell and de-morphed as he passed out. Karone took her sword and distracted Trixabus while Ryan force his lance through his chest. Trixabus growled and turned to face Ryan, sending another purple wave of energy as well as a lightning bolt at the Blue Ranger, charring his suit and de-morphing him. Karone jumped and brought her blade down into Trixabus shoulder, nearly severing his arm until he cried " Zedd, I believe it is time for a tactical retreat!" In a flash of red and purple the two had vanished.

Tommy, Karone, and Rad picked Jason and Ryan up and jumped to the rooftop where Hayley lay with an unconscious Kira. "I guess we'd better go back to the Aqua Base and get these guys healed..." It felt as though he and his team had just made the Aqua Base their home, it was where they went for training, for medical treatment, and just to say hi to the Lightspeed crew and the Silver Guardians.

They teleported back into the Med Ward and layed Jason, Kira, and Ryan on three of the beds. They then went to go visit Kat, and not only did they see Kat laying right where they hadleft her, but two doctors lay dead, and Kim was sitting on the bedside! "Ah," she said, a huge grin covering her face "I was wondering when you'd get back." She stood and walked over to the Rangers. She crunched the bones on the doctors beneath her feet for her own amusement as she crossed the room, her grin turned to a smile when she heard the first snap and soon turned to laughter after the third of fourth.

"What did you do?" Tommy asked, he sounded almost as though he didn't believe what he was seeing. How had the sweet sixteen year old girl he had fallen madly in love with, do this? How could she kill people, and then laugh about it? It made him shudder just thinking about it.

"Oh," she said, her smile faded and she turned her head to Kat and the doctors "nothing really. I just killed Kat, and when they tried to stop me I killed them too." Her smile reappeared at the memory of the sounds.

"I told you I'd kill all those you care about," she stood on her toes and whispered "Green Ranger," in his ear.

He stared in horror at the sight before him. She had killed three people. Three people, and acted like it was nothing. She casually walked up to Karone and placed her finger over Karone's lips. "Sh, don't worry sweetie," she cooed "you're not the next person. No," she placed her hands on her shoulders, tightened her grip, and shook her a little while saying "you'll be the last one to die. Followed by Tommy. You see," she smiled and her eyes lit up "I want him to suffer. It starts with Kat, but spreads to all his lovely little friends, and finally, it ends with you."

She licked her lips and said "I'm going to enjoy ripping you limb from limb," she giggled at the comment, and then vanished from the base in a trail of pink light. Karone had a look of sheer fright on her face, she had never met anyone so insane. She looked over at Tommy and saw him trying to hold it together.


	25. Chapter 25

**26**

Kat's death had shaken the Rangers, the fact that it had been done by one of their own made it even worse. Her funeral had been today, her family had been told that it had been a diving accident. The entire Ranger Community had come, plus her family, her students, and their parents. Tommy had been fighting tears for days, it was the first time in a long time that he had even felt the urge to cry. Karone had let it all out, she had buried her head in his chest at first, and then taken root in his room for days. Andros and Ashley had been called home from their honeymoon early, and Ashley being in the early stages of pregnancy hadn't helped. She had soaked Andros with tears, while he let his own flow silently. Kira had retreated to her recording studio and refused to come out until the day of the funeral. Hayley buried herself in work to try and keep her mind off things, Ryan had let all his frustration out on a simulated Kimberly in Lightspeed's simu-deck. Jason had joined Hayley and tried his best to focus on other things. But in the end, all thoughts drifted back to Kat.

It had affected Tommy the most, after all, he used to date her. Karone had said she wanted to be left alone, and even threw things at Tommy when he tried to comfort her, so he drove down to Angel Grove and sparred with Adam in his dojo. When Adam ran out of energy and Tommy was still going strong, he had simply gone out and beat on a tree. He still couldn't believe it, Kimberly was insanely evil, Kat was dead, and oh yeah, they'd lost four of the gems. Hayley was out of Ranger duty for a while until they could get her gem back. Kim had taken Kat's after killing her, and someone had stolen Andros and Ashley's.

The funeral wasn't easy for anyone. Even Tommy couldn't hold it together anymore, he let it out and Karone assured him that she was there for him. She knew that he wasn't crying because he loved Kat, he was crying because he had lost a friend. Karone still couldn't believe that he'd managed to hold it together as long as he had. She had locked herself in _his _room for days, just crying. She didn't want to be around anyone, so when he had tried to comfort her, she threw anything she could reach, pillows, books, his glasses case, at him. She felt awful about it, he had only tried to help and she'd pushed him away. She vowed she wouldn't make that mistake again.

Ryan had made sure that his father tightened security around the Aqua Base and the Ground Base. He wouldn't stand for anything like to happen again. He had fought and killed a simulated Kimberly many times over, granted it had been easy to kill since the head kept falling off, he had hoped it would make him feel better, but hadn't. He even tossed his Lightspeed missions away and let the rookie Rangers deal with them.

Hayley had holed up underground in the old DinoThunder base of operations and buried herself in work. But every time she saw a "K" or a "A" or a "T" in her notes she lost it. Jason had gone with her to try to develop his martial arts, trying to focus his mind on that rather than Kat, but whenever Hayley started to cry he'd drop what he was doing and just hold her and kiss the top of her head while saying everything would be alright.

Kira had locked herself in her recording studio, writing new songs for Kat and recording them. Kat's family had asked her for a copy of the recordings at the funeral, and she agreed that they would get them. Rad had even come to the funeral. Which surprised everyone, when he had known Kat they had been enemies. Kira guessed this was his way of apologizing for his past deeds as Goldar.

After the funeral Tommy and Karone headed back to his place. The ride had been a quiet one, neither knew what to say. When they got back to his house they sat on the couch and she curled up to. Finally breaking the silence he said "I'm sorry."

Confused, she raised her head up to look at him and asked "For what?"

He sighed heavily and wrapped his arms around her "For taking off like that. You had said you wanted to be alone, and I just took off to Angel Grove...So, I'm sorry."

She nestled her head back on his chest and said "It's okay. I threw stuff at you, even put a hole in your door when I accidentally threw your glasses case."

He chuckled and said "Yeah, let's not throw stuff again. You've got quite an arm on you. Are you on steroids or something?" he teased.

She looked up at him, jaw hanging open in a smile and she playfully slapped his chest "No! I'm just super strong."

"I can tell that," he said, rubbing his chest and mockingly saying "Man, that hurt. I think you broke a few ribs." He looked down at her and smiled.

She made growling sound while smiling and said "Whatever Dr. Oliver." Before nestling her head back on his chest.

He looked down at her and said "I love you, Karone."

"I love you too, Tommy," she mumbled. He could tell she was drifting off. It had been a hard day for everyone. He was happy to feel himself smile, and even happier to see Karone smile a few minutes before. It seemed as though it had been years, not days, since he'd seen her wonderful smile.

'If anyone told me now that she used to be Astronema, Queen of Evil, I'd tell them they were full of shit.' He thought as smiled at her. She had fallen asleep, and he was quite content to just let lay there. The sun had already gone down, and he didn't feel much like sleeping anyway. He bent his head over and kissed her on top of her head, and just sat there. Eventually he did pass out, and when he awoke the next day, he found her still sleeping on him. She had twisted and turned a little bit, but was still asleep on him. He smiled, thanking the Power that he hadn't had any sort of dream test or nightmare's about Kim.

Jason and Hayley drove back to his apartment, they hadn't made anything official yet, but were seeing each other. When Jason learned that Hayley had lost her gem, he hadn't been exactly happy, but he had been relieved. It meant she would be far from the action. Which is where he wanted her, far away from the action. Far from harm. He knew that he loved Hayley, but he was afraid that she didn't feel the same way, so he kept his mouth shut. He didn't know what to say, he had never comforted anyone over someone's death. He just wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. They sat there on the couch for hours, until Jason finally thought of something to say. "I'm sorry I'm not the best at comforting..."  
'Stupid, Jason, stupid. Now what you want to say!' he kicked himself.

"It's fine. Truth is, I'm not the best at being comforted. So it kinda goes together," she smiled weakly.

He tightened his grip around her slightly in a hug. "I'm here for you, sweetheart." he whispered.

Hayley smiled briefly and hugged him back.

Ryan chose to stay over at his condo in Mariner Bay, he had never felt at home in the Aqua Base, and now he never would. He refused to live where a friend of his had been murdered. He opened the door to his condo, crossed over to the fridge, and got a beer out. He sat quietly in his chair, eventually passing out.

"Zedd!" cried Rita "Zedd you over-grown chrome plated car decal, let me out of here!" She stomped her foot and began again.

"Oui, will someone please shut that old witch up!" Divatox muttered "she's driving me crazy!"

"Why don't both of you shut up?" Astronema growled "We'll get out, when they let us out. We just have to be patient!" she fired a lightning bolt from her Wrath Staff that zapped both Divatox and Rita.

Divatox yelped and said "Well who died and made you Queen Bitch?"

"Dark Specter, that's who."

"Oh, right. Silly me, I forgot," Divatox cowered away and muttered "I swear I will strangle that little stringbean when I get out of here..."

Karone woke up and looked around, she was surprised to see Tomy still sitting where he had been last night 'Did he even moveat all?' she wondered. She sat up slowly, stretching.

"Hey gorgeous," he smiled, taking in how beautiful she looked when first waking up.

"Hey yourself," she yawned "Did you stay there all night?"

"Yep."

"Get any sleep?"

"Of course."

She smiled and leaned in close for a kiss, which he gladly gave her. They were all still thinking about Kat, and what had befallen them, but Tommy managed to push it away for a bit while he wrestled with his decision. "Karone," he said, his mood turning serious.

Surprised, and a bit scared she answered "Yes?"

"Would you like to move in here? With me of course," he was hoping her answer would be yes.

She smiled and shrieked "Of course!" Then, she cleared her thoat and said more seriously as if she were talking to a general in the army "Of course I would, Thomas." He couldn't help but smile at both her answer and her playfulness. He leaned in and kissed her, stopping only when he reached her neck and she said "Not now, Tommy." He stopped and stared at her. "I just want it to be special, let's wait until the night I move in."

He nodded in agreement "We'll wait, it'll be special." She sat up and kissed him firmly.

Later he mentally kicked himself for thinking about sex the after they had buried a close friend. He did have another reason for wanting Karone to move in with him, it wasn't just because he loved her, but also because he wanted to be sure she was safe. He had upgraded the defenses in his house since the Kim's little redecorating trip.

'I still can't believe I did that,' he thought as he helped pack Karone's stuff in her apartment. She had said she wanted to move in right away, and he had said that he had no problems with that. They had found it strange that Hayley hadn't been home though. He wondered where she was. 'Hopefully not out getting drunk off her ass,' he thought.

Jason and Hayley had fallen asleep on his couch, they woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his door. "Answer it," she nudged him with her elbow. Kira was standing at his door and was breathing hard.

"You alright kiddo?" he asked, inviting her in.

"Yeah, I just ran all the way here from my apartment," she plopped down in his chair and said "I just didn't want to be home alone, y'know?"

"Kim got you spooked?" Hayley asked, Kira nodded.

"Please don't tell Dr. O," she pleaded.

Jason put a hand on her shoulder "Kira, Tommy would want you to be afraid. She bested a veteran Ranger, even killed her," the words had stung them more than he thought they would. He shut his mouth and sat back on the couch.

"What Jason is trying to say," Hayley started "Is that Tommy doesn't want you facing her alone. If you see her, call for back up immediately. If she see's you, run. Run and call for help. Understand?"

Kira nodded, she always had been the sensible one of the DinoThunder team, and that hadn't changed a bit in six years. Though the rest had learned when to pick their battles early on. "I understand. It's just," she swallowed "it's hard to believe that Dr. O used to date her, and now she's trying to kill him and all his friends? It just doesn't make any sense to me."

"It's the gem, Kira." Jason said "It's been infused with Dark Specter's evil energy. It's not her, its it."

"I guess so..." Kira sighed.

"This is, glorious!" Trixabus said as Kim handed him the the Blue Prehistoric Gem. "We now have five of the gems!"

"Don't forget," Kim warned "about our deal. I let you use my gem, and you let me kill every single Ranger with my own two hands. If you don't," she got as close to his face as she could and whispered "I'll kill you, as well."

Trixabus laughed and said "Don't worry about it. You'll get the Rangers. Just get me the Green and Purple Gems first."

Kim smiled evilly and thought about how to kill her next victim, 'Should I crush his next neck like I did Kat? No, I should do something different...Got it.' Her smile spread even wider and as she walked by by Rito she plucked his head from his shoulders. "You guys, don't like this guy right?"

"Uh, right. But Rita-" Zedd started, but was cut off by Kim crushing Rito's head in her hands.

She smiled down at the rubble of his skull and kicked the dust around, stomping the chunks left of his skull into dust. She frowned when the dust began to reform and she said "Too bad he's just going to reform."


	26. Chapter 26

**27**

Casey Rhodes stared in amazement at all the people in the room, he had known that there were other Ranger teams out there, but he had no idea that there were so many Rangers. He had received an e-mail, as did all the other Rangers, saying to attend a meeting that was being held in NASADA. The e-mail had been sent by Tommy Oliver and was marked as urgent. He asked R.J. about it, and he had said he received one too and that he knew what it was about. The meeting was to take place a week after the funeral, as that was the only day that everyone would be free. Casey felt his shoulders being grabbed and he immediately whirled around to see had grabbed him. "You must be Casey Rhodes." Tommy held his hand out, and Casey shook it. "I'm Tommy Oliver, glad you could make it." Tommy saw the expression on Casey's face and frowned. "This must be your frist time seeing the other Rangers of Earth."

Casey nodded and said "It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard the rumors saying you're the greatest Ranger. One question; why did I have to turn over my morpher before I entered?"

Tommy snorted and said "Those rumors are highly exagerated, and I'll inform everyone of that during the meeting. Now, take your seat. I'm about to start." Casey took his seat, on his left was a man dressed in red soccer clothes with his feet propped up on the table, and to his right was a guy dressed in a red shirt and an orange jacket. He watched as Tommy stood at the front of the room, behind him he could see a girl dressed in black leather with a purple jacket, a girl in a yellow and black neo punk style, a man in a silver shirt with blue jeans, a woman dressed in a white T-shirt with black dress pants, and man with dark hair dressed in a red T-shirt. He straightened up as Tommy began to speak.

Tommy was relieved to see all the other Rangers still alive, especially after what Kim had told him; "I'll kill everyone you care about." He had immediately upped the defenses around his home, his friends and families homes, and his friends families homes. Though none of them knew it, if Kim's signature were to show up at any of their places, he'd know immediately and leap into action. He had even asked Karone to move in with him and they were busy moving her stuff into his place now, just another day or two and she'd be moved in. His team and everyone who had been at Andros's bachelor party knew what the meeting was about, he had announced it after the end of the party and had Hayley get everyone's e-mail addresses for him. He scanned the room and saw everyone except Trey, the Aquitian Rangers, and the Galaxy Rangers were present. He had managed to track Zejtar down after his mysterious departure from the Aqua Base and informed him of the meeting.

"Alright," he began, his voice commanding and everyone quickly put a stop to their conversations "some of you know why we're all here. It has to deal with Katherine Hillard's death." Some them nodded. "I know most of you were at her funeral last week, and I thank you for coming. But a lot of you don't know who killed her." He gripped the podium in front of him, turning his knuckles white.

"Well," he sighed "I hate to say it but, one of our own was responsible..." The conversations started up, he heard some people saying that it wasn't possible, and some saying that he was lying.

"Quiet!" He shouted and the conversations ended again. "It was done by a veteran Ranger. She was a Ranger long before I came along..." He stared down at Zack and Trini as the realization of who it was dawned on them. "Her name was, is, Kimberly Ann Hart. Now she did not make this choice herself, just as I did not, nor did Ryan, and so on. We had in our possession a pink gem just like this one," he held his gem out for everyone to see.

"But sadly," he continued "we underestimated its strength and willingness to find its owner." He sighed and said "So in short, it's the gem that is evil, not her."

"You mean like it was with me?" Trent Fernandez asked.

"Yes Trent, and no. Her gem was encased in a remaining piece of Dark Specter, that's where the evil energy comes from. Now, I want everyone to avoid her at all costs." He gripped the podium and cracked it. "I won't lie to you, she had vowed to kill everyone I know and care about. That's why you are all here, and the reason your morphers were taken. An old friend of mine, Billy Cranston, is over in the lab adjusting the morphers for teleportation. If anyone of you see Kim, run. Don't engage her. She was able to best most of our current team and leave them hospitalized."

"So, dude, what you're saying is that your ex girlfriend has gone psycho and is out to kill each and everyone of us?" Conner McKnight asked. "I mean, why us? What did we ever do to her? Hell, I've never even met her!"

"Yes, Conner. That's what I'm saying." Tommy let out a tiresome sigh. "She going after those I care about to get to me. Why, I don't know. I do know though, that it is my problem and I'll deal with it. Kim is very dangerous now. But I promise you, I'm not going to let her get to any of you. If you see her, call me immediately."

Rocky sat in the mess of people with Adam, Tanya, Justin, and Aisha and listened to what Tommy was saying. He couldn't believe that sweet little Kimmie was responsible for Kat's death. He thought back to the days when he first joined the team, Kim had been so sweet, so innocent. Well, mostly innocent. He remembered the time that Kim had been upset because Zedd had attacked Earth while she and Tommy were in the middle of sex. Listening to her complain had been more than a bit uncomfortable, but he had dealt with it. Rocky thought of his Zeonizer, thinking that maybe it was time he came out of retirement. He looked over at Adam and could tell that he was thinking the same thing.

"Alright, now if everyone except the Red's would please leave." Tommy said as he wound down his speech. Billy will hand you all your morphers back outside." At that, everyone except for a little over a dozen Rangers left. He did a headcount and saw that none of the Red's had left.

"Okay," he said "as Red Ranger's, or former in a few our cases, including mine, it's our job to make sure the teams are well protected. Carter," he said the man in the orange jacket next to Casey. "Captain Mitchell upped security around both the Aqua and Ground Bases, correct?"

"Yes sir," Carter said with affirmation "Each and every Med Room requires a specific DNA signature to be able to enter, the same with every bunk. He has also quadrupled security on the outside as well as the inside."

"Good. Wes," he nodded to the co-leader of the Silver Guardians. "You and Jen have upped security around your son's school and his friends houses, right?"

"Yes," Wes nodded back "hidden security camera's and DNA scanners everywhere. If Kim goes anywhere near him or his friends, we'll know about it."

"Excellent. Cole, you're sure that Kim won't be able to find the Animarium?"

The former leader of the Wild Force Rangers stood and said "Yes sir, I'm sure. It's difficult for even Taylor to find it, and she's known its location for years."

"That's true. She comes home cursing when it isn't where she thought it was..." Eric grumbled, getting a nudge from Wes to shut up.

"That's great. I want you to take your old teammates there and stay hidden until we can put a stop to her."

"But...sir...we want to help..."

"That's an order Cole."

"Yes sir," Cole said, disappointed.

"Shane, Hunter. You're both sure that both the Wind and the Thunder Academies are hidden thoroughly?"

The two Red Ninja Rangers stood and said "Yes. No one who does not know the location can find them."

Shane added "When I was just starting as a Ranger, I even had a slightly difficult time finding it."

"No joke, me too." Hunter added.

"That's great. If either of you see her in Blue Bay, alert your team and stay hidden. Even Tori. Kim has ten more years worth of experience than she does." The two nodded.

Tommy looked over at the two Mystic Rangers and said "Leanbow, Nick. You said that Rit, that the Mystic Mother has prepared a spot for your team to hide in should Kim return to Briarwood?"

Leanbow nodded and said "Yes. Though I do not like it. This girl may have killed an experienced Ranger, but I have more experience than she does. Should she return, Daggeron and myself will try to repel her. But if need be, we will contact you."

Tommy didn't feel like arguing with the man, he still had to check with T.J., Andros, Rocky, Mack, Casey, and Conner. "Mack," he said "you're father's basement. It's more secure than my own?"

"Y-yes," the young boy said "very secure. I'll gather the others and we'll stay around the mansion if that's what your insinuating."

Tommy nodded in agreement and turned his attention to the newest Red Ranger, Casey Rhodes. "Casey, you're positive that R.J. has Jungle Karma Pizza secured?"

Casey nodded and added "He's already asked us to stay close by, just in case."

"Great, tell him thanks for me. Conner, Rocky, T.J. You guys are close enough that I can keep an eye on you myself. Now, if everyone except Andros would leave please." Jason, Rocky, and the others departed, leaving the once filled room now almost completely empty.

"Andros," he began, but Andros held his out to stop him.

"Tommy, I'm sorry about losing the Red and Black gems. I take full responsibility for losing them, and for letting Zedd and Trixabus get, well actually get two steps closer to opening the gate to the Shadaow World. I'm sorry. If we hadn't gone on-"

Tommy cut him off "If you hadn't gone on your honeymoon then we very well could have been burying you or Ashley too. Don't beat yourself up. You wanna know how times I lost my morpher in High School?"

"Yeah but we didn't lose them, we took them off thinking-"

"Thinking you wouldn't need them. I've taken my communicator off before, thinking I wouldn't need it. By the way, I lost my morpher over a dozen times in high school. Just ask Billy. Or Jason. Point is, Andros, don't be so hard on yourself. You've still got your morphers, just not the powers. Your communicators still work, so go. Go back to your wife and go back on your honeymoon. But," he raised his finger for emphasis "keep your morphers with you in case you need to contact us." Andros nodded, the look of sorrow not leaving his eyes.

After Andros exited the room Leanbow returned. "Tommy," he said strongly.

"Yes?"

"The Mystic Mother asked me to tell you that she wishes to speak with you as soon as possible."

"Tell her I'm busy." He said flatly.

"She says that it's really important, and that you need to know about it." Leanbow pleaded.

"Then why don't you tell me?"

Leanbow sighed "Because she wouldn't tell me what it was about. Only to tell-"

Tommy cut him off "Alright, alright. Tell her I'll be there in two or three days."

"Thank you, really."

Tommy nodded but didn't say anything as he lead Leanbow out of the room.

After the meeting Andros and Ashley drove to the airport. "I still find it strange," he said.

"What's that?" Ashley asked, not looking up from her fashion magazine.

"Using airplanes to travel across the planet, on KO-35-"

"We're not on KO-35," Ashley said, placing her hand on his thigh "We are on Earth."

"We just teleported." He finished anyway. He knew she was right, they were on her world, not his. He had to abide by their customs, their rules. After twelve years though, he was still having some trouble adjusting. Granted, he spent a lot of that twelve years helping to rebuild the galaxies, and Ashley had followed him. His work in helping rebuild continually forced him to put off proposing, but lucky for him Ashley understood why he waited. She had been more than a little elated when he'd finally proposed. He smiled 'It was worth the wait,' he placed his hand on her thigh in response to her hand on his and just smiled.

Tommy and Karone packed up the last of her stuff and loaded it into his jeep. "I thought you had a lot more than this?" He asked as he loaded the last box up.

"I did," she smiled mischieviously "but I gave some of it to Hayley so I could move in tonight, instead of tomorrow."

He smiled back, he knew what she was planning. Tonight was the night they had agreed upon, the night she moved in with him.

When they got back to his place though they found Rocky and Adam sitting out on the front porch waiting for him. Karone excused herself and ran upstairs. Rocky explained that he and Adam wanted to join the fight and help save Kim. After a long conversation about it, Tommy reluctantly agreed to let them help out as Zeo Rangers III and IV. He explained though, that it was just temporary, and they said they understood.

It was dark by the time Rocky and Adam left for Angel Grove, and the only thing that had kept Tommy's anger in check was the thought of the beautiful woman waiting for him upstairs. He ran up the stairs and calmly entered his bedroom to find Karone sitting on is bed, waiting on him with a devious smile on her face.

Baneero was growing impatient, he had already fried four of his subordinates. "Gruumm," he said angrily "how much longer until we reach Earth?"

"About two Earth weeks, sire." Gruum said hesitantly.

Baneero growled and shouted "Speed it up! I want to be there within a days time! Do you hear me? Within a day!"

"R-Right away sire!" Gruumm clumsily fumbled at the controls and increased their speed "We should be there in about twelve Earth hours, sire."

Baneero sat back and said more coolly "Good. Gruumm, maybe I won't kill you."

Around the palace Rito had been non-stop complaining about how Kim had crushed his head and how hard it was to pull it back together. He claimed to have lost brain cells, but Zedd had told him he needed a brain in order to lose brain cells, to which he readily agreed. Kim had since gone back down to Earth and was stalking who she intended to be her next victim. She watched as Hunter Bradley walked out of the motocross shop. She closed her eyes and licked her lips as she imagined the sound of his bones breaking. "It's going to be beautiful. A true piece of art." She smiled and fell into line behind Hunter, being careful to stay a safe distance away.


	27. Chapter 27

**28**

The next morning Kim followed Hunter to the track. Right as she was about to grab him he turned and saw her out of the corner of his eye. He quickly sent a message out through his communicator for everyone to stay in the Academies. Before he could teleport out though she snatched his communicator and stomped it to pieces. "Shit!" He yelled and began attacking. She dodged each of his punches and kicks easily before tripping him and knocking him on his back.

She quickly crawled down on him, spreading her legs on either side of him and walked her fingers up his chest and slowly leaned in to kiss him. He felt her tongue enter his mouth and when she finally drew her head back up she said "Wow. So that's what it's like to kiss a real ninja." He cursed at her and she placed her finger over his lips and cooed "Shh. It's okay, it's okay. It'll all be over in just a second." Her wicked smile spread across her face and she placed her hands on either side of his head. Slowly, she began adding more and more pressure. He fought to keep silent, he didn't want any innocent civilians coming over and getting killed. Suddenly, a wave of water hit her and sent her crashing into the wall next to her. Hunter slowly lifted his head up and saw the Blue Wind Ranger standing a few feet from him. He had never been so happy to see her. She ran over and helped him up and they teleported back to the Wind Ninja Academy.

Kim stood, she was furious that she had been denied the pleasure of her kill. She walked back to the city, grabbed a random man and drug him down an alley. From the alley came horrendous flesh tearing noises and screams could be heard from the alley. When Kim returned she was covered in blood, which she licked away from her lips. "I feel a little better now." She said sweetly as she teleported away.

Back at the Academy the others questioned Hunter as to why he didn't teleport back first then warn them. His answer was simple, he wanted to be sure they were all safe first. Blake smacked him upside his head and told him that he was lucky Tori showed up when she did. Sensei Kanoi Watanabe immediately contacted Tommy and let him know that Kim had been spotted in Blue Bay Harbor. A few minutes later a rainbow of colors entered the school. Tommy and Karone still had morning hair, though with Tommy's hair being short it was hard to tell.

"So what happened?" Tommy asked, wanting to skip the formalities and get straight to the point.

Hunter sat up and said "Kim attacked me, tried to crush my skull actually."

"Well that explains the bandage and messy hair." Karone said, trying not laugh at how goofy Hunter looked at the moment.

"Haha, very funny," Hunter said, the sarcasm very apparent in his voice. "No but seriously, she followed me to the track, knocked me over and climbed on top of me..."

"And?" Tommy asked impatiently, he wanted Hunter to hurry up and finish.

"And she kissed me. Then tried to kill me." He blurted out, feeling his cheeks and ears turn red.

"Wow, dude," Dustin said "Your face is like, totally the color of your shirt now." He laughed. Hunter remained silent.

Tommy sighed and said "Well, everyone keep a watchful eye out. We're going to go see if we can-" He was interrupted by Cam turning up a news broadcast.

"It's local. They say it just happened a few minutes ago." Cam turned and said. The news report was of a man who had been found torn to shreads in an alley in the city. Tori and some the others had to leave the room to keep from getting sick. Tommy's eyes widened in horror as he knew who had killed the man, then they narrowed in anger at the fact that she had gone and taken her frustrations out on an innocent civilian.

"Come on guys, let's go." He said coldly. They spent next few hours searching the city for her, but to no avail. She had already left Blue Bay, where she had gone they didn't know.

Zedd was growing impatient, he wanted to attack Earth now, not in two weeks. It was boring just sitting around the palace for days on end. He missed the old days where he always had a monster ready for battle. These days he was lucky if he could send his generals down to do the fighting. Golver was smarter than Goldar had been, but also more of a coward. He looked over at the pedestal where they had four of the gems located. He marvelled at how easy it had been to obtain the Red, Black, White, and Blue Ranger's Gems. The Pink Ranger's had been even easier as she swore to let them use it. Why she had agreed to help them he didn't know. All he knew was that she had said she was Maligore and Dark Specter's child of evil. He wondered briefly if she was Dark Specter's granddaughter. But quickly shook the thought away when he realized the suit would have burned up if she were Maligore's direct child and Dark Specter's grandchild. "I miss the old days..." He grumbled, clanking his fingers to his chin.

A few minutes later Golver entered the throne room to announce something, but before he could his body straightened and a silver essence and a gold essence appeared. The silver essence slowly faded away and the gold re-entered the body. When Zedd stood to see who was responsible, he found Goldar, not Golver, standing before him. "How do you like my hello gift, Zedd?" said a fairly deep voice. Zedd turned and saw a man with black hair and white roots and tips, a crimson shirt, black duster, and black pants enter.

"Baneero!" Zedd cried in amazement, throwing his arms out as if expecting a hug. "You are finally here! Now we can attack Earth and claim the final two gems!"

"Where is Trixabus?" Baneero questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"He just entered his three day energy re-charge. Same I did a few days ago. We weren't expecting you for another two weeks." Zedd sounded apologetic.

"I grew bored on my ship. So I had Gruumm speed us up. Unfortunately out my crew of one hundred-twenty he's the only one left." Baneero sighed "Zedd, you stay here. I want to test these Rangers myself." Baneero turned, his duater fluttering behind him.

"But I-" Zedd was too late, Baneero vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Goldar looked up at Zedd and said enthusiastically "Oh Lord Zedd! I'm back Master!"

"Terrific." Zedd grumbled.

Tommy and the others had returned to his house for lunch. During the meal Tommy explained about Rita "about Mystic Mother" he corrected, wanting to meet with him. He had no idea what for. The last thing he ever wanted to do was see her face again. After lunch they split up and each went home. Tommy grinned at Karone, remembering the night before. He felt at ease around her, something about her was just...soothing. "Hey," he said as soon as they were alone. "So how do you like living here so far? I bet you're already ready to kick me out of my own house huh?" He teased.

She smiled and scooted closer to him on the couch "Oh of course I am. You goof." She leaned in and kissed him. "I love it here so far." She pushed him down on the couch and began kissing him very passionately when both communicator's chirped. "Damn it all..." She cursed, and Hayley's voice came through saying they were needed in Reefside.

When the team arrived on the scene they saw Baneero calmly walking down the streets of Reefside, freezing anyone he saw. The five Prehistoric Rangers and the two Zeo Rangers stood ready to fight. "Who is that guy?" Kira asked as he came closer.

"I am called Baneero." He shouted "Greetings." He pulled to knives that resembled meat cleavers and and sped past them, knocking the two Zeo's off their feet.

Tommy quickly summoned his Zeo and Turbo Swords saying "Let me introduce you to some real blades."

Adam and Rocky stood, both had a series of gashes covering their uniforms where Baneero had sliced them. "I don't know Tommy," Rocky called "his blades are pretty lethal in their own right." Tommy two swords met Baneero's two knives and a series of sparks erupted. The two jumped back several feet to breathe. A split second later they were at each other again.

The others had their hands full with an army of robots that had been sent down by Zedd. Jason quickly discovered the way to dismantle them, hit the "B" emblem on their chest, strike the back of the neck, and then have them collide with something before they rebooted their systems. Jason preferred to have them collide with each other. After defeating a little over two dozen of them, Zedd sent more along with an army of fantomites, down. "Do these guys not know when to quit?" Adam asked "I mean damn, I fought Zedd over a decade ago and now he's back?"

Flashes of white light surrounded Tommy and Baneero. Tommy had since upgraded to his powered up form and fought with his Dragon Sword and Zeo Sword. He had all but destroyed Baneero's duster, and Baneero had all but destroyed his shield. Suddenly, for no reason at all Baneero put his blades away. "Please tell me you've got sense enough to give up." Tommy said. Baneero shook his head and summoned two katana instead. Before he could ask "What now?" he was crying out in pain, Baneero had turned into a black blur and run both swords through Tommy's shoulders. Baneero twisted them and smirked.

Tommy pushed the pain to the back of his mind and commanded his arms to work. He moved them, but it was impossible to put the pain out of his mind. Sparks erupted from his and Baneero's blades colliding, Jason and the others soon joined in. Baneero quickly abondoned his swords and summoned his own staff, it was shaped like a pitch fork but instead of a middle prong there was a red ruby. He fired red lightning out of it at all the Rangers. Rocky and Adam were sent flying into buildings and fainted. The others used their weapons to block most of the lightnings effect until he stopped firing. Baneero walked forward and systematically took out all but Tommy and Karone. He stabbed Jason through his right leg and left shoulder, knocked Kira into Ryan and sent them flying into Rocky and Adam. "You two are the ones I want." He growled, looking down at their wrists.

Tommy took his Dragon-Sword and stabbed Baneero through his stomach. He winced a little and stabbed Tommy through the same spot on his right shoulder. Tommy howled in pain and collapsed as Baneero dug his staff around in his shoulder. "Damn it!" Karone seethed and stuck her sword next to Tommy's and began twisting it around. Baneero looked at her and grabbed her wrist. He smiled as he ripped her suit's arm back and grabbed her morpher, popped the gem out, and smiled.

Tommy stumbled back, Baneero's staff sticking out of his shoulder. He grabbed the staff and slowly, painfully pulled it out. When he looked over at Baneero he saw Karone de-morphing as he took her gem. "No!" He shouted as Baneero threw Karone across the street and into a cars windshield. Ignoring the pain he felt and drawing on all his powers he became a green blur and began punching and kicking Baneero until he grabbed his sword and sliced through him up to his chest. Baneero clenched his teeth together to keep quiet and clasped his hands together, bringing them down on Tommy's helmet, shattering it and knocking him unconscious.

Baneero managed a laugh and bent over to pluck Tommy's gem from its morpher. "Easy." He said with a satisfied smirk as he retreated to the palace to heal and deliver the last two gems.

When Tommy and the others woke they found themselves not only beaten, but mostly powerless. They retreated to the Aqua Base, and came face to face with Dana, who was not happy that Tommy was once again her patient. She glared at Tommy and Jason"You two," she pointed at them "are going to get yourselves killed one day. I swear, Tommy, how many times have been stabbed in that same spot?" Tommy managed a sheepish smile.

A few days later he had Jason teleport him to Briarwood so that he could face the Mystic Mother. Rad lead the way and as Tommy entered the Mystic Realm and the bright white room and saw Rita up on her dais, he nearly lost control. Everything in him screamed "Go and kill her. She screwed with your life!" But he resisted the temptation and calmly walked before her. "I'm here," he slapped his hands at his side "now what do you want?" He wasn't in the mood for any games she had to play. He was pissed, one Ranger dead, one psycho, and four; Andros, Ashley, Karone, and himself, powerless.

"First off, Tommy," she said in that same screechy, yet aged, voice "I want to apologize for my past actions. I hope you can eventually forgive me what I did. I had no right to pluck you from your life and throw you into thi-"

"You're damn right you didn't you withered old hag!" He lost it, the memory of his life as it had been before sent him over the top. As he calmed down he said "But, f you hadn't made me the Green Ranger I never would've accomplished all the good I have. So, I guess for that I have to thank you. But I know you didn't just call me here to make amends. So what do you want?"

She nodded, grateful he saw something she hadn't. She had done a good deed in picking him as the Evil Green Ranger. She always resented herself for it, first because he always foiled her plans after her spell was broken, and second because she had become good. But she was glad that Tommy pointed out that his need for repentance had done a vast amount of good in the universe. "I am aware that you have once again lost those Powers I bestowed upon you so many years ago. I wish you had come to me the day of the meeting, I could have warned you about Baneero. But since you didn't, I've been searching for a new Power Source for you and your friends."

"Why should we trust you?" His anger rising again, the thought of accepting help from her was inconceivable. He'd never, not in a million years do it.

"I understand your unwillingness to believe I have changed. But I have. Zedd, Trixabus, and Baneero are going to use the gems to unlock the gate to the Shadow World and unleash my evil side, Divatox, and Astronema! They are going to re-form the United Alliance of Evil!"

"They would need the Pink Rangers Gem for that." He said smugly.

"Who do you think gave them the blue gem?" She retorted. He hadn't realized it at first, but Kat's gem had been missing.

"Shit..." He said "Well, we'll just break into the palace and steal our gems back."

"It won't be that simple. Since Alia and Zokk, and later Kimberly broke into the palace Trixabus has had the security upgraded.

'Alia, so that's her name. But who's Zokk?' He wondered.

"Still, I'd rather try for my gem first if you don't mind."

"Damn it Tommy! I do mind!" She shouted "Your Prehistoric Powers won't be enough to defeat them. You couldn't even defeat Zedd and Trixabus, or Baneero and that had been seven against one!"

Tommy gritted his teeth, remembering the defeat the five Prehistoric's and two Zeo's had taken, and shouted back "If I accept, I want you to do two more things! One is to save Kimberly; and two, stay out of my life from there on!"

She nodded "Saving little Kimmie won't be easy. She has the Power of not only a Ranger, but also that of Maligore and Dark Specter flowing through her."

What are you talking about?" Tommy demanded through clenched teeth. "Lerigot purged Maligore's influence from her."

"No, Thomas. Lerigot was not strong enough to rid the evil from her, nor was he strong enough to rid it from Jason. He could only bury it deep within them. I'm afraid that's why the pink gem chose her."

"If that's the case then why didn't it choose Jason? He was closer to it than she was."

"Were there feelings of betrayal, or hate between you and Jason?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No."

"What about Kimmie?"

He thought back to that day after the events on Muranthias. Kim had insisted that she never sent a letter, and he had insisted she had. Before she could really explain he had simply walked out on her. He hadn't seen her again until just a few weeks ago. "Yes..."

"Then that is why the gem chose her. She had lingering feelings of hate."

"Hate that I caused..." He sais sadly. "Kim has turned into this monster because of me?"

She nodded sadly "I know, it's difficult to accept that. If you can, bring her to me. I'll see what I can do...but there are no guartees. On anything revolving around her. Now, the Powers I told you about. They are located on the planet Zega. Bring your team before me when you are ready and I shall transport you there."

"Excellent!" Zedd said as Baneero placed the purple and green gems on the pedestal. "Now, where is the Pink Ranger?" He asked, looking around.

"Looking for me?" She asked as she entered the throne room and placed her gem with the others. "Now Zedd, I expect my gem back after this. I don't care what you do with the rest. Understand?"

"Kimberly?" He asked, slightly amazed, then said "Of course, of course."

"Good." Kim said. Zedd arranged the gems in a particular order, and had Alia begin the chanting.

Down in the Shadow World, Rita, Divatox, and Astronema sat patiently. As Rita was just about to give up hope, an opening appeared.


	28. Chapter 28

**29**

A week after once again losing his Green Ranger Powers, Tommy was going nuts. Jason, Ryan, Kira, Rocky, and Adam had been able to handle the various monsters Zedd and Rita had sent, and he was still able to summon the Dragon Dagger and communicate with the DragonZord, but that was it. He was unable to particiapte in the actual battles. He didn't want the media attention that would bring to his doorstep, and he knew Karone didn't want it either. It was bad enough when the reporters and camera crews tried getting interviews and close ups of them while they were morphed, he didn't want kind of attention in his everyday life as well. To make things worse, Kim had struck again. This time it was poor Justin who felt her wrath. His funeral was scheduled for the following week. Things had just turned upside down completely ever since Baneero appeared and stolen the final two gems, as well as crushed his morpher. He still hadn't gone back to the Mystic Mother to see about the new Powers she had told him about. He'd try to get the gems back first before he did that. Tommy had returned to his teaching job at Reefside High, and had had very little patience with his students. Which was very uncommon for him. Principal Randall joked at first that he was becoming Elsa, but when he turned his glare on her she backed away. Even Anton avoided him. Tommy was just in an all around foul mood. He was able to lighten up a bit while around Karone, however. Something about her just calmed him, he wasn't quite sure what it was.

Jason could tell his friend was hurting. But the few times he saw him around the Aqua Base he either had Karone with him, or Hayley was with himself. He wanted to approach Tommy alone, but it had to be in a secure place. Jason was furious about the way things were going, but it seemed to affect Tommy more than it did himself. He had a good mind to teleport up to the moon and fight all of them at once, but he also realized that would be suicide. Finally he found Tommy wandering around by himself, Karone and Hayley were nowhere in sight. "Tommy!" He called out as he rushed over to his friend.

"What do you want Jason?" Tommy all but growled.

"C'mon man, talk to me. What's up? Ever since you lost that gem you've been a different person."

Tommy snapped back "You want to know what's wrong? Well, let's see. Where do I begin? Kim has become a psychopathic murderer, two Ranger's are dead, two Lightspeed doctor's are dead, and three civlians have killed. I lost my Green Ranger Power, yet again, Rita, Divatox, and Astronema are out roaming the galaxy again, and oh yeah, we only have three active Ranger's now!" He put a hole in the wall by Jason's head with his fist.

'Whoa,' Jason commented 'he really is pissed.' Jason stared at the hole, eyes bulging a little. He'd never seen his friend so pissed. Tommy had always been the level headed one, not the hot headed one. "I, uh, I guess I'll leave you alone then..."

"Thank you." Tommy grumbled. Later he returned to his house and fished through one his old boxes down in the basement. When he didn't find what he was looking for he tossed the box aside, spilling its contents all over the floor and moved on to the next box. The process repeated until he finally found what he had been looking for. "About damn time." He growled as he held an out-dated communicator up to his face and blew the dust off. It was his old White Ranger communicator. He strapped it on and in a mixture of white and green teleported out.

Karone was upstairs in the kitchen fixing herself a snack while Tommy rummaged through the basement. She had seen his behaviour recently, when he was alone or with anyone other than her he was a complete hot head and could almost always be caught brooding. But that changed whenever she'd enter the room, he'd lighten up and return to the way he had been before. Loving, peaceful, and a joy to around. She wondered what it was about her, or if he was just trying to hide his frustration from her. She sighed deeply as she said "I hope everything returns to normal soon..." Losing her gem hadn't been easy on her either, she had grown used to always jumping into the fight. But now she knew she didn't have her helmet to hide behind in battle. She didn't want to expose herself to the camera's again. It had been bad enough after her identity as Astronema had been discovered the day of the Z-Wave. She didn't want to live through that nightmare again.

Hayley sighed, it had been around a month since she'd lost her White Ranger Powers. She hadn't even had them very long. 'Maybe I'm not cut out for Rangering...' she thought sadly. She was just glad to have Jason by her side during the whole ordeal. Their relationship had progressed very well, she was even getting ready to move in with him. She smiled as she remembered that. She held up a photo of the DinoThunder team and herself. 'If only things were as simple as a mutant Dinosaur wanting to revert Earth back to the Prehistoric times...' She sighed again as she packed the photo up.

Ryan was wandering around the Aqua Base, he still couldn't believe how quickly everything had changed. He had gotten into this big arguement with Chloe and they had called it quits, he was part of a new team, half of that team had lost their Powers, a veteran Ranger was going on a killing spree, and a few of Earth's past threats had been released from the Shadow World. Why they hadn't attacked in full he didn't know. Maybe they were just biding their time. Maybe their powers had to rechardge. He honestly didn't know. He sighed as he plopped down on the sofa next to Kira.  
Part of the reason Ryan had left Chloe was because he was beginning to develop feelings for Kira. Whether or not she returned them, he didn't know. He looked over and saw that she was playing her guitar, he laid his head back and listened to the chords she hit. Soon after, he fell asleep.

Kira continued to stroke her guitar, she still had a job as a famous musician to do. She was working on a new song when Ryan walked in and sat next to her. She felt her ears turn a little red when he sat down. She hadn't dated anyone since Trent and her had their big falling out. He had asked her to marry him two years after high school, and she had said she wasn't ready for marriage and that no sane person was at that age. Trent had taken that as her way of saying she didn't love him. He said that if she didn't love him then she shouldn't have wasted two and a half years on him. She insisted that that wasn't the case, but he refused to listen. They had only seen each other a few times since then. She looked over at Ryan, he had fallen asleep. She allowed a small smile to spread across her face. 'He is cute...' she thought 'Who knows, maybe he will ask me out...'

Adam had been pulled back to Angel Grove by his wife, Tanya, by the ear. She hadn't been happy that he'd returned to active duty. After he explained the current situation to her though, she had sighed a sigh of defeat and said "Just don't get killed." Adam was happy to return to active duty. He was, however, sad that Tommy had lost his Powers at the same time. He offered his Black Mastadon Morpher and Coin to him, but Tommy had said that it just wasn't the same. Adam had to agree with him on that, he didn't think he'd be able to use another person's Powers either. These days Adam was being extra careful to avoid injuries. His wife scared him more than any monster ever could.

Rocky was thrilled to be back as an active Ranger as well. He had regretted giving the Power over to Justin all those years ago, but his back just wouldn't allow him to fight. It had long since healed though and he more than happy to be back in action. When Tommy had finally given up and let him re-join the team he had grinned like the cat that just swallowed the canary all the way back to Angel Grove. He had to admit, running the dojo with Adam and living a normal apple pie life had gotten pretty boring. Adam had agreed with him on that, which is one reason why the two were so happy to go back into action. "Life just seems to have more meaning when you're out there saving people." Rocky muttered as he and Adam sat down at the Juice Bar and watched the new kids enjoying the same routines they had at that age.

"I know what you mean," Adam said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Although, it's too bad we don't have new Powers like everyone else. But I'm happy with the Zeo Powers too." Adam nodded his head as he chewed his sandwich. "So what about the dojo?" Rocky asked, changing the subject. "I mean, we're gonna have to hire someone to run it whenever we're out of town."

Adam swallowed and said "You know, I hadn't really thought of that. Got anyone in mind?"

Rocky nodded and sipped his smoothie. "Yeah, how about Mr. Frank? I mean, he taught me some of what I learned. He's a great teacher and the students will love him."

"Sounds like a plan."

Up in the moon palace Zedd, Trixabus, and Baneero had been joined by Rita, Divatox, and Astronema. Zedd and Trixabus had to wait another two weeks before they would be able to use the gems power like that again. They needed time to re-charge the energies needed to revert the two to their true forms. Astronema had immediately announced herself the Queen of Evil, being Dark Specter's heir. But Zedd had said that Dark Specter was dead, and that maybe his heir should join him. A small battle ensued, one which Baneero quickly put a stop to. He then announced himself as the leader of the New United Alliance of Evil, and that Astronema would be his Queen. Everyone except Divatox readily accepted this, Baneero was no more powerful than any of them, but if he was unhappy he'd kill anyone on the spot, even his own mother. He had claimed that the Ranger's were lucky he was in a good mood that day. Divatox had questioned him, saying that she was the true Queen of Evil, not prissy little bitch. Baneero was about to kill her, when Kim appeared and snapped her neck. Afterwards she leaned down and whispered "Paybacks a bitch, bitch."

Tommy landed just outside the moon palace and focused his power into the Brachio part, and a few second later he faded away. Quietly he entered the palace, quickly surprising Goldar, Rito, and Alia when he ran up on them. He quickly made his way up to the throne room where he found Baneero and Astronema sitting up on the thrones, Zedd and Rita looking down at Earth, Trixabus sitting over in the corner, and Kim standing over Divatox's body. 'Well, atleast that's one less enemy to deal with.' He thought. Next to the thrones he spotted a pedestal where the six gems his team had lost were located. 'Kim must have taken hers back already.' He quietly began to make his way to the pedestal. When he reached it he grabbed the cloth the gems were sitting on. Trixabus looked up and saw his heat signature.

"Intruder!" He yelled, jumping to his feet swatting Tommy with his staff. Tommy came out of his invisibility as he hit the floor. Quickly, he jumped to his feet and stuffed the gems into his pocket. Everyone closed in around him, except for Kim who stayed back and watched. He jumped and did a spin kick, soundly connecting with everyone's face. Rita, Astronema, and Zedd fell back a few steps but quickly regrouped. As he punched and kicked the group around him he fumbled through his pocket for the green gem. Finally locating it he pushed it into his damaged morpher and morphed into the Green Ranger. His morph was unstable and fluctuated in and out, but he managed to hang on and continue fighting.

Down on Earth, Karone teleported to the Aqua Base and found Jason. "Have you seen Tommy?" She asked.

"Not since this morning, man was he in a fould mood. Why? Isn't he with you?"

She shook her head no and said "He went down into the basement, said he needed to find something. But when I went to look for him he was gone."

"Aw Jesus." Jason swore "I bet I know what that dumbass did." He raised his arm up and spoke through his communicator "Hayley, Hayley are you there?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Can you get a fix on Tommy's location?"

"Yeah. Give me just a sec." A few minutes later Hayley's voice sounded over the communicator again. "It says here that he's on the moon. Why would he- Oh. Oh no." The fear in Hayley's voice was evident.

"Just like I thought. That damn dumbass!" Jason shouted as his fist collided with the wall, putting a hole in it.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Karone asked, slightly confused.

"That dumbass boyfriend of yours went to the palace to get the gems back. Damn it!" He punched the wall again.

Fear flashed across Karone's face. Tommy had gone up to the moon by himself to steal the gems back because he felt responsible for losing them in the first place. He had gone up there with no Powers at all, and without saying a word to anyone.

"Karone, where did you say Tommy went?" Jason asked angrily.

"To the basement. Why?" She said absently.

"Come on. We need to figure out which of his old communicator's he used to get to the moon." He seethed.


	29. Chapter 29

**30**

Tommy's Powers were unstable, he couldn't summon anything other than his trusty Dragon Dagger. His body ached from the strain of maintaining his morph and forcing his body to work. He felt like he'd fighting the New United Alliance of Evil for hours, and he couldn't teleport out thanks to Trixabus damaging his communicator's teleport sequence. He had managed to steal Zedd's staff and use it as a spear against his enemies. He whirled it over his head and jabbed it at Zedd, the "Z" emblem scratching his chrome skeletal system. His Powers vanished and reappeared, he ran towards Trixabus, feet pounding against the stone floor. Sweat dripped down his nose and into the chin of his helmet. He clashed staffs with Trixabus and Baneero, while trying avoid the bolts of energy Astronema was firing at him. He saw Trixabus's staff coming down in front of him, he blocked it with the top of Zedd's; whirled around and blocked Baneero's behind him. When the two came at him at the same time he jumped over Trixabus's head and kicked him into Baneero. The two fell on the floor, and Tommy turned his attention to the now boiling mad Zedd and Rita.

Zedd grabbed Rita's staff and entered his own fight against Tommy. Their staffs clashed and Tommy pushed Zedd back, his Powers waning again. He took the Z-Staff and split Rita's in two. When he turned he saw Trixabus on him again. He blocked his attack and followed up with a kick to gut. "Don't you guys ever give up?" Tommy grunted as he knocked the Wrath Staff out of Astronema's hands.

Astronema growled and threw her boomerang at him, knocking him off his feet. "Why should we?" She growled as she caught it and placed it back at her side. "We're winning."

"Winning?" Tommy asked as he rolled to avoid Zedd stomping where his head had been. "Don't make me laugh! I'm just warming up!" His Powers fluctuated again.

"Right." Rita cackled "With failing Powers. Tommy, don't you think you're a little old for this?"

"Never too old to beat the shit out of you!" He called as she retreated to the corner. Kim stood at the far end of the room, smirking. Tommy jumped and kicked Baneero in his face, tripping over Divatox's body when he landed. He quickly regained his balance and began another assault on Astronema. He kicked her in her stomach and aimed the Z-Staff at her face before she rolled away. As he prepared for another strike he felt someone grab his throat and lift him up. Trixabus had surprised him. Tommy didn't know how he hadn't sensed him sneaking up, but he hadn't. He dropped the Z-Staff and Zedd picked it back up. Tommy managed to summon his Dragon Dagger into his right hand and stick in into Trixabus' arm, forcing him to drop Tommy. He landed on his side and rolled to absorb the impact.

'Alright Tommy, think.' He told himself as his Powers fluctuated again. 'Where do I go from here? Baneero and Rita have moved to block the exit, Astronema and Zedd have the other one. How about door A?' He sprinted for Baneero and Rita, jumping and kicking the witch in her face as he pushed her down and ran out of the throne room.

"Have you found anything yet?" Jason asked he went through one of Tommy's old boxes while Karone went through another.

"No. Wait, yes. We know it wasn't his Red communicator. That's something at least." She said, setting the communicator beside her on the floor.

"The guy has more communicator's than anyone I've ever heard of." Jason grumbled. 'How could Tommy have been so stupid?' He shouted in his head 'He knows that place is crawling with big bads. What the Hell was he thinking?' Jason and Karone hadn't told anyone else about Tommy's stupid stunt. The others had been busy the past week fighting monster after monster. They had needed a break.

"Jason," Karone said, breaking the silence, "tell me again why we need to figure out which communicator he used?"

Jason grunted and said "Because we need to know which communicator to look for to teleport him back. If we locked on the Red communicator you just found, we'd just get the communicator. No Tommy."

"Couldn't we just lock on to his morphing signature?" She asked, the confusion clear in her voice.

"No good. Tommy has so many different morphing signatures. It makes him impossible to lock on to to teleport. We need tolock on to a specific communicator. Damn! Not the Green communicator either. It's either his Black or his White now."

His feet pounded, echoed throughout the palace as he ran. He could hear the metallic sounds from Zedd and Trixabus following him, as well the pounding of Baneero and Astronema. This was not the time for his Powers to be failing him. He had nine very pissed off enemies plus one psychotic Ranger in one place. Not good. The only thing that made his chances of escaping look a little brighter was the fact that three of the enemies were restrained, one was guarding the throne room, and the psychotic Ranger didn't seem interested in fighting him at the moment. That gave him a small glimmer of hope. He had retrieved the gems, but even so, his Powers would be gone soon. He was very tempted to take the Mystic Mother up on her offer of Power. But Jason would scold him forever if he did.

He had no idea where he was within the confines of the palace. He had just ran, he didn't need his Powers failing him while fighting four enemies. "Shit!" He cursed, he had reached a dead end. "This damn place is like a maze! I feel like I've been going down forever!"

"There he is!" Zedd called, he immediately whirled around to see four bolts of lightning heading for him. He did his best to dodge them, but one of them hit him when his Power fluctuated again. He looked down at his gem, it was dimming from a bright and lively green to a dull and dead green.

"Damn, even the gem is losing its Power!" He said through clenched teeth. His widened 'Wait a minute...' he pulled the rest of the gems out and saw them dimming as well. 'Oh that is not good...' He ran forward and punched Zedd in his metal face, mentally cursing on how it had hurt his hand. He pushed through the four, stabbing Zedd, Trixabus, and Baneero with his Dragon Dagger. He came face to face with Astronema and one though raced through his head 'Karone...'

Astronema raised her Wrath Staff and shot purple energy at Tommy, luckily his Powers resurfaced and the Dragon Shield absorbed the impact. He ran forward and pushed her out of the way, mentally cursing himself that he was unable to truly attack her. 'She's not Karone.' He told himself 'She's Astronema, not Karone.' Though telling himself that didn't help any. 'Why can't I remember which way I came in from?' He continued to run, Powers coming in and out. He stopped when he saw Kim standing before him, an evil smirk on her face.

As Zedd and the others ran up behind him, they stopped when they saw Kim. She told them to head back to the throne room, unless they wanted to end up like Divatox. When they began to protest she shot them an evil glare, and they silently skulked back to the throne room. She turned attention back on Tommy. "Well hello there Tommy." She said with a smile. "Tell me, do you like the work I've been doing?" She laughed, and Tommy glared at her. "I tell you, that Justin put up one Hell of a fight. I mean it, you trained him well Tommy. He had a hard head, he just wouldn't give up. He turned out to be a lot like you. When I was through with him though, his head was more mushy than hard." She giggled and let a sigh out. "But I must admit, it's nice to see you here. I mean, I was going to save you for last and all. But," she licked her lips as she approached him "I've really wanted to see you."

She whispered in his ear. She came back to face him and said "I've missed you. Have you missed me?"

"No. Not at all." He said fiercely, she covered her chest in mock pain and took a step back.

"Well that really hurts." She stepped forward again and leaned up, kissing him. "How about now?" She cooed. "Miss me now?"

"No." She slapped him across his face when his Powers vanished.

"That's too bad." She morphed and kicked him in his chest, sending him back a few feet. He stood and forced his Powers back.

'Damn...' He though as he took fighting stance. 'I don't have the energy for this. My Powers won't allow me too, and my body feels like a rubber stick. Damn it all.' Kim jumped and kicked him in his chest again, he was ready for it and only shifted a little. He summoned his Dragon Dagger and began slashing at her.

She giggled and said "Don't tell me you think that little toy will be enough to finish me. I mean, when I have," she summoned her saw-toothed blade "this." She brought it down on him, his shield absorbing a little of the impact, until his Powers fluctuated. He screamed in pain as the blade pierced his skin and she pulled it back, each tooth tearing a little more flesh. Tommy was on the verge of passing out; the pain from his strained morph, the blade tearing his skin, and just everything plaguing his mind. It was just too much. He saw Kim raise her sword up for another blow, but he never felt it hit.

Kim looked around for Tommy, but didn't see him anywhere. "Where did he run off to?" She hissed, then she noticed her own Powers beginning to fluctuate. "What the?" She looked down at her gem, saw the light in it dimming. "Those sons of bitches drained all my gems power!" She screamed, throwing her sword into the wall.

When Tommy woke up he was laying in a soft bed. He wondered where he was, and what kind of torture Kim and the others had done to him. He slowly opened his eyes, the light was bright. He had gotten used to the dim lighting of the palace. 'Where am I?' He wondered, slowly, painfully he sat up.

When was sitting straight up he felt a fist connect with his face, followed a "Jason Lee Scott! What the Hell was that all about?"

"What?" Jason grunted "The damn dumbass deserved it. He runs off to the palace half cocked, no plan of action, no back up, didn't even bother to tell anyone what he was up to."

"So you hit him?"

'Is that Karone?' Tommy wondered, he began to sit up again. His vision was blurry at best, his throat was dry and it made hard for him to speak. "W-where....am....I?" He finally managed to croak.

Someone handed him a glass of water and said "You're safe. You're back in the Aqua Base."

"Karone?" He asked, still not fully aware of what had happened.

"Yeah, it's me babe. Jason's here too, but I guess you already figured that out."

"Yeah, remind me to kick his a-" He passed out again.

'Tommy?!" Karone squealed as he his head fell to his side a little "Tommy are you okay?" She leaned over and checked his pulse, he was alive. Just sleeping again.

"Typical Oliver," Jason smirked "he gets everyone all excited that he's okay, only to worry them by passing out again."

"Will he be okay?" Karone asked, still worried about him.

"Yeah. This isn't the first time he's been seriously hurt. You should have seen him back in high school. He was always getting tossed around." Jason and Karone spent the next few hours talking about the stupid, yet effective, stunts Tommy pulled in his youth.

"Not much has changed huh?" Tommy said as he sat up, more awake than before. "At least I did one thing right with this stupid stunt."

Jason raised his eye brow, and Karone crossed her arms and said "Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

Tommy smirked and reached into his pocket, pulling out five of the gems. "I got these back." Karone reached for her purple gem and squealed in delight.

"Tommy," she said after close examination of her gem "I think my gems Power is gone..." Tommy nodded and explained about what had happened, and that he figures if their gems are dead, then Kims has to be too.

"I hope that expels the evil influence the gem placed on her." He said as he finished.

"Yo, bro," Jason said "you never did say what it was that Rit, that the Mystic Mother," he corrected himself snidely "wanted to talk to you about the other day."

'Great.' Tommy thought. That was one conversation he definitely didn't want to have with Jason. But, after a deep sigh he decided to tell them. Mystic Mother had told him of another source of Power on the planet Zega. He also explained about what she had said to do in regards to Kim. Tommy wasn't sure if he should believe her or not. He didn't trust Rita, good or evil. When he finished, he looked up at Jason. He looked pissed. His nostrils were flaring, his face had turned pinkish, and his hands were balled into tight fists. The thought of that old witch helping them didn't go over well with him.

Tommy looked over at Karone, whose face had lit up like a christmas tree. "Let's do it." She said flatly, before Tommy could protest and Jason could shout she raised her hand and continued. "I know you two don't trust her."

"That's putting it mildly." Jason grumbled, his eyes drifting off to the side.

"But," she continued, glaring at him for interrupting her, " I do. I mean, is it so hard to believe that there is indeed a good and a bad side to her?"

"Yes." Jason answered flatly, but Tommy knew where she was going with this.

"Why?" She snapped "Because you fought against her? So what? Big flippin' deal! Andros and the others fought against me, yet here I stand. Completely good, and up on the moon is my evil half. So what the Hell are you trying to say Jason? That a person who is split into good and evil halves can't be trusted either way?"

Jason stared at her, he hadn't thought of that. "N-No. It's just, she's Rita, and you're-"

"Who cares if she's Rita? She's doing the same thing I am, the same thing Tommy is. She's atoning for her past mis-deeds. I trust her, and I'm sure Tommy does too." She looked over at her boyfriend, who sadly nodded his head.

"I hate to say it Jase, and I mean I really hate to say it, but she's right." He looked his friend in the eye "I've seen both of them; Rita and the Mystic Mother, Karone and Astronema. They're different. I didn't want to believe it at first either, but I suppose we can trust the Mystic Mother. I don't like it, but I do trust her."

Jason mulled over what his friend had said, and what Karone had said. He supposed that maybe she was good. He still didn't want her help though. Jason absolutely refused to go near that witch. He'd murder her if he did. "I'm not going. Good or bad, she's still Rita. I'll kill her if I go near her. Besides, while you guys are out getting your new Powers someone will have to protect the area. Leave that to me, Kira, and the Space Rangers. Take Ryan, Rocky, and Adam with you."

"What about you? You don't want the new Power? And what about Andros? I told him to come back to active duty when the honeymoon was over."

"Man, leave Andros alone. He's gonna be a dad. Let him live his life. And as for me, my gem is just a copy, and those freaks didn't drain it. So these three will be just fine. I'll still be there to help you as the Red Prehistoric if you need me. Which you most likely will." He teased.

"Oh yeah, cause you're such a big help." Tommy joked, Karone looked between the two and just smiled.

'They really are like brothers.' She smiled even wider.

Kim entered the throne room as Trixabus began shouting "Well? What happened? Where are the gems?"

"He got away." She muttered.

"What? You intolerable little bitch! I knew I should have killed you when I-" Trixabus's words were cut off as Zedd knocked him unconscious to keep him from getting killed.

"Sorry about that." Rita said, sounding a little scared. Kim made a "hmph" sound and teleported out of the palace and back down to Earth.

Kim was more than upset that Tommy had escaped her grasp. She was pissed. As she walked down the streets of Mariner Bay she grabbed another civilian and teleported him to the middle of the desert. She threw him down at her feet and he stared up in horror at her, wondering what had just happened. She looked down at him, her eyes filled with the intent to kill, and a smile spread across her face. She kicked him in his chin, flinging him back a couple yards. He tried to get up, but during the tumbling he had broken an arm and sprained his other wrist. Kim slowly walked up to him. When she reached him she stomped on his other arm, snapping it and laughing as he cried out in pain. "Go ahead and scream sweetie, no one can hear you." She picked him up and held him up to her face. She drew her arm back, and punched him in the face, breaking his jaw. He landed on his back and she started kicking him in his side while grunting "My gem is dead, Tommy doesn't love me, and you quit screaming! There's no fun in this if you don't scream!" She stomped down on his neck and crushed it and his wind pipe. "Ah." She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead "Who should I get next." She giggled insanely and thought about all the different ways she could kill her next victim, which ways would make them scream more and therefore, bring her the most pleasure. "Got it." She said with a pleased smile. Killing Kat and Justin, and the few civilians she had was only the tip of what she had planned for Tommy and the Rangers.


	30. Chapter 30

**31: EPILOGUE**

Tommy explained to everyone about how apparently Zedd and Trixabus had used every ounce of the gems power in releasing everyone from the Shadow World. When Ryan asked what he had planned, Tommy cautiously explained about his visit with the Mystic Mother and about the Power she could direct them to. He told everyone who he was taking with him; Karone, Rocky, Adam, and Ryan with him. When Kira and everyone except Jason protested he explained that they were needed to help defend Earth from any attacks that may occur. But he warned them not to tangle with Kim, if they saw her, run. Everyone grumbled angrily, but in the end agreed it was for the best.

Up in the palace Trixabus was furious when he found out the gems were worthless. "You fool!" He shouted, getting right in Zedd's face "You squandered our one chance of becoming whole again by, by." He pointed at Rita and Astronema "By releasing these things you call allies, one of which you even call your wife! Zedd! What the Hell happened to you over the years?"

Zedd grabbed his staff and pointed it at Trixabus "Well I certainly wasn't foolish enough to stuck in another dimension for thousands of years! So what if we're stuck like this? The Power Rangers are still Powerless, and Earth is ours for the taking!"

"Well how do explain this," he pointed t Rita again "why did you want to rescue this thing?"

"Hey!" Rita said, taking offense.

Zedd growled and shot a bolt of lightning at Trixabus. "Because she's my wife, yes she's screechy, a bit dim-witted, and downright annoying, but still. She's my little witch!"

"Zeddie..." Rita said as she ran up and hugged him "I could just kiss ya. If you weren't so ugly that is." She pushed his face away from hers.

"I despise you too Rita." He said as he fired another bolt at Trixabus.

Baneero sat in his throne and yawned. He didn't really care that the gems were gone. He had gotten what he wanted, the Rangers were defeated, the United Alliance of Evil was re-born again, and the Universe would now be his. "Enough!" He shouted, Zedd and Trixabus immediately quit the bickering. "The Rangers are no more, I say we make our move now. No, Rita." He said as Rita raised her hand to suggest another 'End of the World Party' like Master Vile had foolishly throne years before.

"Where should we strike first?" Zedd asked, his grip on his staff tightening.

"The heart of everything. Angel Grove." Baneero said with a smirk.

At the Juice Bar Skull had been whining for hours now. "Bulkie...do you think she's run off with another man?" He poked his bottom lip out and began sniffling. "I mean, I haven't heard from her in weeks now...do you think?"

"It's possible Skull." Bulk said absently as he flipped a few burgers. After Ernie died, and Lt. Stone was called back to the force Bulk and Skull took over the Juice Bar and made quite a name for themselves with it. "I mean, she has gone to France. Romance Capitol pf the world."

"You're not helping!" Skull cried as he dialed Kim's number into his phone. It went straight to her voice mail. It had been weeks since Skull had heard anything from Kim. He was getting worried. He tried calling again and again, still no answer though. He sighed as he buried his head in his arms. Bulk looked over at his friend and shook his head.

After about three weeks of letting his body heal from the strain he had put it through, and going to Justin's funeral, Tommy finally returned home. Today was the day that he and the others would venture to the planet Zega to obtain their new Powers. Zedd and the others had tried to make their move about two weeks ago, and had been thwarted by the combined efforts of the three Prehistoric Rangers, two Zeo, the five Lightspeed Rangers, and three Space Rangers. It had been a long battle, many of the Rangers had sustained a great deal of damage. But in the end they had won and pushed Baneero and the others back to the moon.  
He shut his medicine cabinet and stared at the face staring back at him. It was the face of a war veteran. His eyes had the look of a commander, they had grown dark. He was almost afraid of himself. What Karone saw in him he didn't know. As he continued to stare at himself he thought about how far he had come from being that shy teenage boy who caould barely ask Kimberly out their freshman year. After he had lost the Green Ranger Powers they had grown closer than before. Then when Zordon picked him as the new leader of the team with his White Ranger Powers he felt as though he had been destined to lead them. He never once questioned his own judgement. At least not until he had inadvertantly created Mesogog. To him that was the biggest screw up of his life, forcing his friend Anton Mercer to suffer like that. If he had known that Anton _was _Mesogog in the beginning he'd have done more to help him.  
'Thankfully,' he thought 'I was able to help him in the end.' Tommy was lucky, anytime he was absent from Reefside High, Anton called and told him that he was away on business for him. It was Anton's way of saying thank you.  
He rubbed his eyes with his hands and muttered "I can't believe I'm going to her for help. Of all the people in the universe..."

As everyone else gathered in Tommy's living room his cell began to ring. "Yeah." He nodded his head with a series of "yeah's" and 'okay's" When he was finished he flipped his phone shut and said "That was Adam. Apparently he can't make it. Tanya gave him an ultimatum; either return to Ranger life and divorce her or, stay away from Ranger life and keep her. So he won't be joining us."  
The other's nodded in understanding. They knew how much Adam and Tanya meant to each other, and that if Adam returned to Ranger life again, she would indeed divorce him. They weren't going to pressure him into it.  
Tommy held Karone's hand and said "Alright. If everyone's ready, let's go." In a series of multi-colored lights the four vanished.

Rita watched through her new Repulsascope as the Rangers made their way to Briarwood. "Zeddie..." She sounded a little worried.

"What is it now?" Zedd grumbled, he was stilling pissed about their attack failing a few weeks back.

"The Ranger's seem to be going after a new Power Source..." She whined.

"What?!" Zedd jumped to his feet and pushed Rita out of the way as he scoped the Earth below them. "I don't believe it. Just how many sources of Power are there?!"

Baneero yawned and said "Send the new wave of fantomites after them." He yawned again as he placed his head in his hand and passed out.

Jason and Hayley had been moving pretty fast in their relationship, he knew it and she knew it. They just didn't care. In Jason's mind she was the one. It didn't matter that the only thing they really had in common was being former Rangers. He loved her, she was smart, pretty, and could take a joke. They had already moved in together, and things had started off pretty rocky, but they had settled into their new way of living. Jason actually had to keep his apartment tidied up now, rather than a big mess as he had had it. Things were going great for Jason, he had a steady girlfriend for the first time since his senior year in high school, he had new Powers, and best of all, he could morph without trying to keep himself from dying. The two were sitting on his couch watching a movie, Hayley curled up next him and he had his arm around her shoulders. 'Yep,' he thought sourly 'my life is just perfect now.'

Tommy and the others landed in Briarwood and entered the Mystic Realm. As they were all about to enter Rita's room Tommy turned and said "If you guys don't mind, I'd like to go in by myself first. I want to talk to her alone for a minute." The others agreed and he entered the Mystic Mother's domain once more. "I'm here. You win." He said, slapping his hands against his legs.

She turned from her viewing globe. "Tommy, this isn't a battle. No one here has won, no one has lost."

"Yeah well it doesn't feel like it." He muttered. "Look, your Mystic Rangers may have supreme faith in you, but I don't."

"I never expected you to." She admitted with a heavy sigh.

"The only being I've ever had supreme faith in, was Zordon. And he's dead." He said, his voice changing form confident to slightly shaken.

"I know. I also know that I can never measure up to what Zordon is. He is a great and powerful wizard, I regret fighting him all those years." Her eyes drooped a bit.

"You mean was. You can never measure up to what Zordon was." Tommy said icily.

"No. Is. I do not believe him to be dead. He's far too powerful for one shattered energy tube to kill him." Tommy's eyes lit up and a look of sheer surprise flashed across his face.

"You mean to tell me that he's alive? I don't believe it." He snarled. 'But then again...that dream...'

"I do not expect you to believe me. I just thought I would pass my thoughts along."

"Well keep them to yourself!" He snapped. "Everyone get in here!" Ryan, Rocky, and Karone soon entered. "Now send us to Zega. I don't want to look at you any more than I have to."

She nodded sadly and began the incantation. A few minutes later they were gone. "Good luck, Rangers. I am sorry, but I do not have the Power to bring you home should you fail in your quest..."

"But honey!" Adam protested "I really want to fight. I mean, we've already hired Mr. Frank to watch over the dojo!" Tanya glared over at her husband in response. Her icy stare made him jerk a little. Normally nothing scared him, but his wife was really, really scary when she wanted to be. "C'mon." He pleaded.

She stomped over to him and stared up at him. "I said no. Adam, you can't go off trying to be a hero every chance you get. It was bad enough when that Sentinal Knight called you back to action for a temporary mission. But now you want you go full time again?"

"Ay yi yi yi yi!" Alpha Six cried as he entered the room "Tanya, you were once a Ranger to. You know the saying; Once A Ranger, Always A Ranger. If Adam wants to go so badly then maybe he was meant to go." Alpha Six waved his head from side to side, and crossed his fingers behind his back. After a short stare down with the robot her shoulders deflated.

"Fine. Go, but be careful." She leaned in and kissed Adam passionately. "You better hurry. I bet the others have already left."

"Oh shit!" He said "I love you!" He called as he teleported out and into Briarwood.

"I love you too..." She called after him.

When Adam landed he was in the middle of Briarwood, he quickly made his way to the Mystic Mother and asked that she send him with them. "I'm sorry Adam." She said as she placed her head piece back on when Rad handed it to her.

"Sorry for what?" He asked, the confusion evident.

"I must save my energy for Kim. Tommy wants me to try and help her."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed.

'Mystic Mother,' sounded a deep voice in her head 'it is I. focus your energy on me, I can send him there.'

'Yes, of course.' She relied, focusing her energy. "Adam, prepare yourself. I have just enough energy to send you."

His face lit up and he thanked her greatly. Adam had heard from Xander about Rita becoming the Mystic Mother, and giving the Mystic Rangers their connection to the Morphing Grid. It had been a little hard for him to accept at first, but Adam had eventually visited her himself. During that meeting she had apologized to him, much like she did Tommy, and Adam had gotten to know her a little better. "Thank you." In a flash of light he was gone.

"Why do you refuse to show yourself?" She asked as she looked up at the ceiling. "It just doesn't make any sense."

Kim had been pondering over who she would attack next. 'There's just so many people to choose from...' She thought as she went down the list of Rangers. "Ah, I know." She said as she got off the corpse of her last victim. "Say hello to Kimmie, Cassie. " She laughed as she teleported out.

She landed outside Cassie's condo and kicked in the door. "Anybody home?" She yelled as she entered.

Cassie quickly made sure Lenny made it out safely before morphing into the Pink Space Ranger and going back to the family room to face Kim. "Why are you here?" Cassie demanded.

Kim tsked and said "Well, y'see, I have this thing where I just don't like anyone wearing a Pink Ranger Sui- Oh who am I kidding?" She giggled "I just want to kill you. It's fun." She stook her head out a bit a swung it from side to side and drawled out the "u" as she said it. "Like this." She grabbed the T.V remote and threw it at Cassie, she instinctively caught it. Kim threw a few more things at her, and while she was distracted she ran up to her and punched in her stomach.

Beneath her helmet Cassie's eyes bulged and a cry of pain was caught in her throat. She had felt someone punch so hard. It like taking a sledge hammer to the gut. Before she could react Kim took her knee and connected it with her chin. Cassie hit the wall of her family room, her helmet busting a hole in it. Kim laughed as the Pink Ranger stumbled to get back up. Kim jumped across the room and landed on Cassie's body full force. Cassie cursed as she felt her ribs snapping, one after the other. Kim smiled and brought her hands down on Cassie's helmet, shattering it to pieces.

"You know," she said she got off Cassie and picked her up by her throat "all those years after my little trip to Muranthias, I've been fighting this dark side to me that Maligore's influence created. But ever since that gem touched me, I've been letting it out little by little. And I have to say," she licked her lips as she tightened her grip on Cassie "it feels damn good." She laughed as Cassie's face turned purple.

Tears began to roll down Cassie's cheeks and some muffled sobs managed to escape. Kim quit smiling and glared at her. "No." She snapped her neck. "Crying." She threw Cassie's lifeless body across the floor and stomped her chest, digging her heel in as she walked out the door, a satisfied smirk on her face. 'That's one more down.' She thought as she exited the room.

* * *

To be continued in Ninjetti Rebirth

A/N: I thought I'd end this story on a cliffhanger to lead into the next one. Also, I's like to hand out my thanks now and give out the credit where it is due:

1. Thank you to everyone who read and continued reading, really, thank you.

2. The idea for Tommy/Karone was suggested by liron-aria, so thank you for that.

3. Kim being evil was a suggestion given to me by hewhoreaps, thank you for that. I hope everyone who has read this and reads the next story enjoys evil Kim, I've tried to give her personality a 180 degree turn here.

4. The idea for the next stories suits was suggested by megaphantom. They are from a Super Sentai series that was only partially aired in america (the zords), I plan to use the suits, but tweak the helmets a bit, of course Toei and Bandai hold the rights to them though. The Powers will be different from the Super Sentai series as well.

5. Again, thank you everyone.


End file.
